Baffling case of $1.5m ball

It's a baseball tradition as old as the World Series itself: whoever catches the home run ball can take it home. Until now.

While Barry Bonds and his San Francisco Giants team-mates prepare for baseball's biggest prize, a judge in the player's home city yesterday began hearing evidence in a dispute over who owns the ball he hit to break the all-time home run record in October last year.

The home run - Bonds's 73rd of the season - transformed the $10 ball into a $1.5 million piece of history. It was initially caught by Alex Popov, a restaurateur from Berkeley, California, who then claims he lost it after he was engulfed by a sea of fans. It finally ended up with Patrick Hayashi, 37, a computer programmer from nearby San Jose.

Popov's lawyer, Marty Triano, yesterday told San Francisco Supreme Court his client's dream of catching a ball "turned into a nightmareî® "He was mugged," he said. But Hayashi's lawyer, Michael Lee, said: "Scrambling over a home run ball is part of baseball's fan culture."

Meanwhile, Bonds is baffled that the case has actually gone to court. "Why don't they sell the ball, and split the proceeds?" he asked. "That way the lawyers won't get everything."