Bonds'
715th Historic Home Run Ball Sells for $220,100
on eBay
CNNMoney.com
SAN
JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 3, 2006--Barry
Bonds' 715th home run ball sold today on eBay (Nasdaq:EBAY)
for $220,100 after receiving 69 bids. The winning
bidder is Marc Chase (eBay ID: 52817), an eBay member
since 1999 and owner of Symbolic Auto Group, an
authorized new car dealer in the Silicon Valley
(Calif.), La Jolla (Calif.) and Las Vegas.
During
the final hour of the listing, 20 bids were placed,
jumping the price of the ball by nearly 45 percent.
Chase placed the winning bid with just under four
minutes left. There were more than 665,000 visits
to the 715 home run ball description page -- a rate
of nearly 48 visits per minute. It was the most
watched item on eBay over the last 10 days with
more than 25,000 people tracking it on their My
eBay pages. Fans can view the final listing page
at www.ebay.com/715.
The
sellers, Andrew Morbitzer and his wife Megan, have
committed 10 percent of the ball sale proceeds to
Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.
"The
decision to sell this piece of history was a big
one for us, but ultimately, we are happy with the
ending price we received today," said Andrew.
"It's been a chance of a lifetime, a lot of
fun and we feel putting it on eBay allowed a lot
of people to participate, either through bidding
or watching. We're also very excited to help Big
Brothers Big Sisters of America through our donation."
"This
715th home run baseball is a huge piece of baseball
history that broke the record of Babe Ruth, who
I consider one of the game's greatest players,"
said Chase, who sells Rolls Royce, Bentley, Lamborghini,
Aston Martin and others at his dealerships, and
also sells cars on eBay Motors. "The ball also
has a real connection between Bonds and his godfather,
Willie Mays, my all-time favorite player who I watched
growing up."
"The
historic 715 ball received a tremendous amount of
attention and activity on eBay," said Jed Clevenger,
category manager for sports memorabilia at eBay.
"We're thrilled the Morbitzers chose to sell
the ball on eBay and that it has gone to a buyer
with a passion for baseball and appreciates the
significance of this item."
On
May 28, Andrew caught the ball one-handed while
in a concession line at AT&T Park in San Francisco.
The listing began July 24 with a starting price
of $10,000. With a lot of early bidding activity,
the $125,000 reserve price was met just two days
into the listing. Listing management services were
handled by Auctionwire.
About
eBay
Founded
in 1995, eBay created a powerful platform for the
sale of goods and services by a passionate community
of individuals and businesses. On any given day,
there are millions of items across thousands of
categories for sale on eBay. eBay enables trade
on a local, national and international basis with
customized sites in markets around the world. Through
an array of services, such as its payment solution
provider PayPal, eBay is enabling global e-commerce
for an ever-growing online community.
The
World's Online Marketplace(R).
eBay
Inc.
Dean Jutilla, 408-376-8355
djutilla@ebay.com
