Top Bid For Bonds' Record Homer Ball Passes $177,000

Steroid rumors or not, collectors are willing to pay for home run baseballs off the bat of Barry Bonds. The price tags, however, are way below the record $3 million shelled out for Mark McGwire's then-record 70th home run ball in 1998.

With more than a week to go, online bidding for the ball hit Aug. 7 by the San Francisco Giants slugger for record homer No. 756 has reached $177,156, says Mac Joseph, spokesman for Sotheby's in New York.

Photo of Barry Bonds hitting 756th career home run by Heinz Kluetmeier/Sports Illustrated

The online bidding began Aug. 28 and ends Sept. 15. Auction officials have said they expect the price tag to reach as $500,000. That makes Matt Murphy, the 21-year-old lucky ball catcher from Queens, very happy as he plans his financial life.

"I'm going to be investing or buying property or doing something smart that's going to set me up for the future," Murphy told Newsday.

Sotheby's and SCP Auctions also are offering Bonds' 755th homer ball, which tied him with Hank Aaron. It was caught Aug. 4 at San Diego's Petco Park by Adam Hughes, a 33-year-old plumber from La Jolla. The top offer for that ball is currently $72,600.

Bonds has been a key figure in the BALCO steroid scandal for the past four years, though the 43-year-old outfielder has never failed an actual steroid test. He's also still under investigation for perjury by a federal grand jury regarding his testimony in the BALCO case, but he hasn't been indicted.

The ball Bonds hit for his record 73rd home run in 2001 sold for $517,500, while Aaron's 755th (hit in 1976) went for $650,000.