And Bonds’s 756th Homer Goes to …

None of the likely suspects ended up catching Barry Bonds’s 756th home run. Not Jake “The Snake” Frazier, Brett “Cheese” Nance, or any of the other “ballhawks” at AT&T Field. The winner was not only far from a regular, he was even wearing another team’s colors: The Mets.
Matt Murphy, 22, was stopping over in town on his way from the New York City borough of Queens, where he lives, to Australia, where he will be traveling. Now, he’ll explore the issues associated with carrying a baseball that could be worth up to $700,000 around with him across the Pacific Rim.
So far, no one knows what he’ll do with the ball. He left the ballpark without answering questions, “a move that might make Bonds himself proud,” the San Jose Mercury News joked. (Bonds has made a habit of ignoring the fine folks who cover him.)
The record-breaking hitter doesn’t want it. “I’ve never believed a home run ball belonged to the player,” Mr. Bonds said last night. “If he caught it, it’s his.”
Mr. Murphy could keep it for himself, or he could put it on eBay, consign it to a traditional auction house or strike a deal directly with a collector or dealer. If he’s selling the ball, the sooner the better, one supposes, especially considering the steroid cloud hanging overhead.
The winnings, whatever they add up to in the end, did not simply fall into Mr. Murphy’s lap. The San Francisco Chronicle’s account says the scrum over the ball in the centerfield bleachers “produced blood, bruises and bedlam.” Brian Herman of Sacramento was the first of many to “just miss” the ball as it careened from row to row before it hit the ground. And then …
A guy in a New York Mets jersey plopped down on it and wouldn’t budge, while one fan after another tried to pull the ball away from him.
Some people pushed others to get to him. There was shoving, elbowing and possibly worse.
Security guards and cops showed up and began pulling children away from the grown-ups who were doing battle.
“Who has the ball, who has the ball, who has the ball?'’ the guards were hollering.
Then the security people dug into the pile, grabbed the guy in the Mets jersey and spirited him away. About six guards and cops escorted him in a phalanx worthy of a prince or potentate.
On his way out, he slipped the ball into the back pocket of his plaid shorts, The Associated Press said. As eager reporters yelled questions from among a grandstand’s worth of disappointed Giants fans, he made a simple statement of fact that doubled as a chest-thumping expression of hometown pride.
“I’m Matt Murphy from Queens, N.Y.”