Auction Closes on Home Run Ball No. 762

AP Sports Writer

The last baseball Barry Bonds hit out of the park sold for $376,612 on Saturday, the winning bid coming from a buyer who wanted to remain anonymous.

There were a total of 13 bids on the baseball that was caught by Jameson Sutton last Sept. 5 during a Colorado Rockies game at Coors Field.

Home run ball No. 762 is a bargain considering that SCP Auctions handled the sale of Bonds' record-breaking No. 756, which fetched $752,467.

"I was hoping that it would be higher than that," said David Kohler, president of the auction house. "If Barry Bonds never plays again, whoever bought this ball has a valuable piece that's worth seven figures."

Kohler said the uncertainty of whether Bonds will return to the field played a factor in the lower price. The San Francisco Giants did not bring back Bonds this season and he's found no takers on the free agent market.

"I think that some people thought he could come back and might have backed off," Kohler said. "But someone ended up with a nice heirloom."

Sutton, a 24-year-old from Boulder, Colo., kept the ball in a safe deposit box before deciding to put it up for the highest bid this year after it appeared Bonds' career might be finished.

At the time, Sutton said he would use some of the proceeds from the sale to help defray medical expenses of his stepfather, David Arguijo, who had lung cancer. Arguijo died Wednesday.

"I am happy with my decision to sell the (762nd) ball and wish the new owner the best," Sutton said in a release. "I'm especially proud to help my family pay some of the medical costs due to my father's illness."

Bonds hit No. 762 over the left-field fence on a 99 mph fastball by Ubaldo Jimenez.

SCP said it authenticated Sutton's ball by studying game films and interviewing fans, including Robert Harmon, who was scrambling for the historic ball along with Sutton. SCP also had Sutton take a polygraph test, and he passed.

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