A while back I posted a story here about the whereabouts of Barry Bonds' 762nd home run baseball. It was the final home run he hit during the 2007 season, and now that he's been indicted, it's certainly possible that it could be the final HR of his career.

That distinction, of course, would make the 762 ball a very valuable keepsake. Bonds' 756th HR ball (the one that broke Hank Aaron's HR record) sold for more than $752,000 a few months ago, and most memorabilia experts agree that the final HR ball would be the most valuable since it represents the record that will be chased.

The problem is that Bonds hit his last HR of the year in early September, and few people expected it had the potential to be his last round tripper. When the ball was hit into the stands, there were no efforts made by stadium security to verify who caught the ball, and its unlikely Major League Baseball was marking the balls with any special notations to distinguish them from other balls used in the game. As a result, whoever caught the ball has a potentially valuable baseball -- and yet may not be able to cash in because they might not be able to prove they caught the ball.

Here's a video clip of Bonds' 762nd HR. What you'll want to watch closely is the side-angle, slow-motion replay of the fan who reaches over the wall to make the catch. Notice that as the HR ball goes into his glove, another ball pops out the front of his glove. At one point, you'll clearly be able to see a baseball on each side of his glove.

A fan who was sitting in the bleachers during the game, near the scrum for the HR ball, told me that the fan who first touched the ball had a batting practice ball in his glove. He claims the guy in the purple shirt who emerges from the scrum, holding up his glove, actually has the BP ball. The guy who first touches the ball actually held on to the HR ball, but if it didn't carry any special markings from MLB, it would be very difficult for anyone to authenticate it.