Fan Pursues Bonds Home Run Ball, But Strikes Out

Fri Sep 17, 10:30 AM ET

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A baseball fan who bought up 6,458 seats at Los Angeles' Dodger Stadium in the hope of catching and selling Barry Bonds' 700th home run ball admitted on Thursday he had probably struck out.

Los Angeles investment banker Michael Mahan crunched some numbers back in March and spent $25,000 to buy all the bleachers in the stadium's right-field pavilion for the Oct. 1 and Oct. 3 games when he figured Bonds would become only the third man to enter the 700-homer club.

But with Bonds on Thursday already at 699 home runs and with 12 games to go before Oct. 1 Mahan said the chances of being there for the milestone were slim.

"I am just looking to see a good game and having a good time. I am not overly disappointed. There was a chance, that's all there was," said Mahan, a lifelong Dodgers fan.

Mahan said he was not out of pocket. He sold 3,000 tickets to a broker, hundreds more through his Web site, gave others to family and friends and donated 400 to a local kids charity.

Every buyer signed a contract promising to hand over to Mahan any Bonds home run ball they might catch. Mahan would sell the ball -- which he said experts claimed might fetch up to $500,000 if it were the 700th -- and split the cash with the fan who caught it.

It is not the first time that baseball fans have gone the extra mile for souvenirs as the San Francisco Giants slugger pursues the 755 all-time home run mark set by Hank Aaron in 1976. Bonds is currently third behind Aaron and Babe Ruth, who has 714 home runs.

Two tussling baseball fans ended up in a San Francisco court over ownership of the ball that Bonds hit for his 73rd home run in 2001, a record for single-season homers. That ball, which was once estimated to be worth as much as $1.5 million, was auctioned by a judge's order for $450,000.

Funny story. Looks like his math wasn't too good in figuring out the game. ;)

At least for his sake, he was able to sell a lot of the tickets to make back some of what he spent. Also nice that he gave some tickets away like that. Since he still has put a lot of money into this game, I hope the Dodgers win. That and because the Giants are a ½ game up on my Cubbies in the wild card race.

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I want to go to John's Park.

I heard about this story last night. Amazing what some people will do for balls. I have some balls that I'd be willing to sell for the right price. Any buyers??

My dad has a bunch of signed braves balls, simply because he works for Fox 5 and the players just kinda give em to him.

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Ah, Ohio.com.
[quote]
[b]Dodgers fan attempts to cash in on Bonds[/b]

[img]http://www.ohio.com/images/common/spacer.gif[/img]
[b][size=-1]From Beacon Journal wire services[/size][/b]
[img]http://www.ohio.com/images/common/spacer.gif[/img]

Michael Mahan figured it was worth spending $25,000 for baseball tickets -- especially when it bought him the entire section at Dodger Stadium where he thought Barry Bonds' 700th home run ball might land.

But now it appears Bonds will reach that milestone in the coming days so Mahan, a lifelong Los Angeles Dodgers fan, has been selling most of those tickets in the right-field pavilion at Dodger Stadium.

Mahan, 28, decided six months ago to purchase every seat in the section for two of the three games against the San Francisco Giants that end the season in October.

He was hoping that Bonds would join only Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron in the 700 home run club.

Mahan has been reselling most of the 6,458 tickets for as much as $15 each -- much more than the $3.50 rate the Dodgers' front office gave him as part of a standard group-discount rate.

``An individual found a way to manipulate the system, and it won't happen again,'' Gary Miereanu, the Dodgers' vice president of communications, told the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday.

Mahan said he sold tickets through his Web site at $15 each and said he sold 3,000 tickets to a broker for less than $15 each, but declined to disclose the exact price.

He donated 400 tickets to charity and said he gave about 300 to family and friends.

``I haven't done the numbers. I'm not going to lose money,'' he said.

Mahan, an investment banker, has even taken it one step further. He has required every ticket buyer to sign an eight-page contract compelling them to hand over to him any Bonds home run ball they might catch. He would then sell the ball and split the money evenly with the fan who caught it.[/quote]

You missed a few things, sfft.

I don't like what the guy is doing, personally.

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Thrillnetwork Moderator - finding a way to piss you off every day.
Be a REAL American, bend over, grab your ankles and let this country have its way with you.

You sir, are an idiot.