Posted on Sat, Sep. 03, 2005
Hall says no to gaming Web site
Compiled by John Ryan
Mercury News
It's the most obvious and self-serving public-relations game going, and kudos to the Baseball Hall of Fame for refusing to play it.
The Hall rejected a donation of Barry Bonds' 700th home-run ball because it came from an online gambling operation -- not the one that bought the Virgin Mary grilled-cheese sandwich, but one just as attention-starved.
``The Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum will never accept artifacts from any company known to be involved with gambling,'' Hall spokesman Jeff Idelson said Friday.
He added: ``The cardinal rule in baseball is you don't gamble. It's been posted in every clubhouse since 1927.''
Sportsbook.com paid $102,000 for the ball in June. A spokesman said the company was disappointed but not surprised by the Hall's decision. Yeah, we'd say the same thing about the company's tactics.
• Because the Hall is taking the stand, though, here's something to ponder: Forget the hat. When Bonds goes into the Hall of Fame -- or Mark McGwire or Sammy Sosa or Rafael Palmeiro or whoever else makes it -- will the busts be built using pictures from before the late 1990s or after?
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