Photo of the Day
For some reason I like the idea of posting a sports photo early in the day. I know that sports photos are not the most popular on here, but that is my passion so I have been finding a way to get them on here. Today I thought that I would post this picture of the Barry Bonds record breaking 756th home run ball that I took at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York during my visit in 2008.
This ball has an interesting history behind it. Bonds hit a 3-2 pitch out of the park for the record setting home run. The pitch was served up by a young man who’s father had faced Hank Aaron after he hit 755. How cool would it have been if both father and son had given up number 756? The event was not as memorable as it should have been because of the steroid suspicion around Bonds already. The ball was caught by a young man who instantly proclaimed that he would not sell the ball, but would instead donate it to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Less than a month later he had sold the ball in an auction for over 750,000 to designer Mark Ecko. Ecko started a website right away to determine what the fate of the ball would be. The three options were to go directly to the Baseball Hall of Fame, get branded with an asterisk, or get blasted into space. The majority of the 10 million people who voted wanted the mark put on the ball. Just over a year after the ball was hit I saw it at the Hall in all of its infamy. I had mixed feelings about the ball, but I wanted to get a shot of it. When I think of the record I will always think of Hank Aaron, but when I see this picture I am reminded that some people will lie, cheat, and steal to get what they want.
Technical Data
This was another quick and easy job of editing. I ran it through Lightroom and applied Matt Kloskowski’s Medium Sports Preset to it. After that I adjusted the highlights, and then it was exported. Some of the shots like this one it just seems better to be quick about it and use a preset.
Dave Wegiel Photography 