That fella who caught Barry Bonds' homer the other night, his name's Matt Murphy and, as you might have heard, he's a Mets fan. He'll be selling the ball, of course; estimates are between $400,000 and $500,000. eBay is even trying to help him out.

We've been thinking of late, again, about Tim Forneris, the old Cardinals groundskeeper who gave the ball back to Mark McGwire after he hit his 62nd homer in 1998. At the time, it seemed like the most logical thing in the world to give the ball back; it was seen as a code of honor. Now, of course, it's obvious that honor wasn't returned, and nobody even pretended Murphy would give the ball back to Bonds (who said Murphy should sell it anyway). And he shouldn't; that would be dumb.

But you know what? We haven't heard from Forneris in recent years ... but we bet he doesn't regret giving the ball back at all. Just a hunch. It still, in spite of everything that has happened since then, seems like the right thing to do.

eBay Asks Matt Murphy To List Barry Bonds' 756th Home Run Ball On... eBay [beRecruited SportsWrap]
Big Mac's Big Night [New York Times]

(UPDATE: Way to go, Post-Dispatch. The St. Louis paper catches up with Forneris ...)

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