Bonds' Ball Buyer to Donate Home-Run Record Breaker to Cooperstown

At least the ball will survive, as it should, in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Fashion designer Marc Ecko, who purchased Barry Bonds' 756th home run ball at auction for $752,467 and let an Internet vote decide its fate, said on NBC's "Today" this morning the ball will have an asterisk put on it and then sent to Cooperstown.

Ecko said there were 10 million votes, 19 percent of which wanted to "banish" the ball, meaning blast it into space. About 47 percent voted to "brand it" with an asterisk.

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

"We're going to be working with the folks at the Hall of Fame; it's a historical museum, and we want to treat this ball as such, as an artifact," Ecko said.