After 10 million votes, the results are in. Designer Mark Ecko will brand Barry Bonds’s record-breaking home run ball with an asterisk and the Hall of Fame will accept it — blemishes and all. Let it serve as a reminder that it takes more than a number to earn the respect of your peers.

“This ball wouldn’t be coming to Cooperstown if Marc hadn’t bought it from the fan who caught it and then let the fans have their say,” Hall of Fame president Dale Petroskey told The Associated Press. “We’re delighted to have the ball. It’s a historic piece of baseball history.”

What a *perfect* exhibit for a museum.

DISCLOSURE: After reading Game of Shadows and numerous reports, I’ve come to the conclusion that a) Barry Bonds is not a cool dude, and b) he knowingly took steroids in an effort to break records despite his being one of the greatest hitters to ever play the game.

Watch the replay. Surly a sign of the times.

Here’s a nice little update on an old childhood friend of mine, Matt Holliday.

The AP reports: “Holliday, who has reached base in a franchise-best 38 straight games, finished 2-for-4 and edged ahead of Atlanta’s Edgar Renteria and Chase Utley of Philadelphia for the NL battling lead at .337.”

Matt, despite having you put the athletic thump on us in middle school, Jeff, Barry, Brian, and I would have never have thought for a second that you would one day lead the National League in batting average. Nice work, and keep it up!

The Associated Press reports: “Barry Bonds hit No. 756 to the deepest part of the ballpark Tuesday night, and hammered home the point: Like him or not, legitimate or not, he is baseball’s new home run king.”

Amid a swarm of expected negative press, the above image is how the nation’s largest sports magazine ushered in the news on its home page. It takes more than just a number to break a record it seems…

I used to be more critical of Bonds than I should have been, but having done my research I still think an asterisk is in order. Should be interesting to see him “break” the record in the next few days. *

According to the AP, North Dakota high schools are switching from aluminum bats to wooden ones primarily for safety reasons. Line drives pop off metal much faster than sticks, and balls go much deeper as a result limiting the reaction time of fielders.

But even though the change will likely reduce injuries, albeit by a fraction, I suspect a large motivation for the switch is due to baseball purists like myself. Balls just sound better off wooden bats than high-pitch, clanky aluminum ones.

Oh, and the game is a lot better when played by real athletes that don’t cheat using performance enhancing drugs (I’m looking at you MLB).

Well this is rare; an ambidextrous switch-pitcher. NY Times has the scoop: “Venditte (pictured) is believed to be the only ambidextrous pitcher in N.C.A.A. Division I college baseball, the ultimate relief specialist. A junior, he throws left-handed to lefties and right-handed to righties, and effectively… Against Nebraska last year, a switch-hitter came to the plate right-handed, prompting Venditte to switch to his right arm, which caused the batter to move to the left-hand batter’s box, with Venditte switching his arm again.”

It’s looking like MLB could see its first legitimate switch-pitcher. Theoretically speaking, the dude could pitch twice as many games as the other guys. Crazy.

Long-time Smooth Harold readers know I like baseball. I like to watch it, and I like to play it. After becoming eligible this year (I turn 28 in July), I will be playing in an adult baseball league starting next week. Not softball, baseball. The problem is I haven’t formally played the game since being a freshman in high school some 13 years ago.

Rumor has it a handful of ex-college players in the league can throw upwards of 80 miles per hour. Yikes! To further compound the problem, a lot of pitchers put quite a bit of junk on the ball, so that’ll be a challenge as well. I hit some fast-pitch balls on Saturday at the local batting cages and made a lot of contact, but keep in mind these balls don’t move position, nor do they break. Oh, and my arm is way out of shape.

I’m really in over my head…