We apologize for the technical difficulties we’re experiencing with the scoreboard. This will be resolved by Tuesday morning 9/25.

Please check back then for accurate numbers to be reflected on the scoreboard.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

- Ben

We’re skeptical…

The Giants recently announced that Barry Bonds will not be returning to play for the Giants next year.  And apparently, the fans in San Francisco aren’t all that sad about it.   So now the burning questions are: (1) Where will he end up next year?  Here, here, or maybe even here? (2) How many more years will he play? (3) Will he keep growing just like he did when he came to the Giants from the Pirates? 

As of this moment, the votes for “smash it” are far outpacing the votes for “save it.”  So we ask those of you who want to smash it: HOW WOULD YOU DESTROY THE BALL?  We’ll post some of your more creative submissions in a follow-up post.

Hey folks,

Thanks for tuning in, and thanks for all of your comments.  We’re just getting started here at EndTheDebate.  We did not set up this website to be a one week publicity stunt.  We don’t have a clothing line to promote.  We set this up out of the conviction that the public should decide whether Barry Bonds’ record is legitimate, and therefore belongs in the Hall of Fame, or a sham, and therefore has no place alongside Hank Aaron’s famed 755th home run. 

There has been an avalanche of early press converage.  A nice CNBC piece by Darren Rovell appears here.  An early CNNSI piece appears here.  A piece in the San Francisco Chronicle is here.  Dan Shanoff, of ESPN Page 2 fame, had a nice bit here:

Bonds 756 Ball: Darren Rovell revealed that the guy who bought 755 will do a similar deal to Marc Ecko: Let fans vote whether the ball goes to the Hall of Fame or into outer space. But the 755 guy will make the online voting public and real-time, which is much cooler than Ecko, who seemingly won’t.

There’s also a little write up on one of our favorite blogs, Sons of Steve Garvey.

Today, we’ll be starting a series of blog posts.  We hope you’ll participate in this debate as we examine whether this famed ball is a legitimate historical artifact or something that deserves to be blown up.  We look forward to reading your comments, and we sincerely hope that you’ll help us advance this debate, but we’re not going to allow obscene comments, hate speech, and the like.

So thanks for checking in.  Keep voting!  We are permitting each person with a registered email address to vote one time per day.  Everyone has an equal chance to participate, and we hope you’ll keep this debate going.

Sincerely,

EndTheDebate (ETD) 

As of 7:55am Eastern, EndTheDebate.com is now LIVE!!!! Thanks to EVERYONE for helping us get to where we are! It’s time for the public to “End The Debate”, once and for all!

Yes, Marc Ecko is doing something similar, but let me address 5 specific distinctions:

1) For us, 755 is the iconic number, synonymous with home run history — WE have THE ball that matters!

2) We’ve taken immense precautions to eliminate the possibility of manipulating the voting.

3) There’s full transparency with a real-time scoreboard.

4) We provide many businesses with access to the huge audience of interested individuals who will weigh in on this topic – we’re open to everyone!

5) We hope to announce a contest element + charity donation (of 7.55%). Stay tuned!

Quick note: The Bonds 755 Ball debate is EndTheDebate.com’s debut, and we intend to launch voting around other topics in the future!

Things started heating up today – the press release we sent out got some bites, including CNBC Sports, MSNBC.com, and several others. Here’s the temporary message @ EndTheDebate.com:

Starting on September 19 @ 7:55am EST, every member of the public will have the chance to decide once and for all who should wear the crown as Baseball Home Run King: Hank Aaron or Barry Bonds.

EndTheDebate is a group of ordinary sports fans. We joined together to let the public, rather than the media or organized baseball, decide whether Barry Bonds meets Hank Aaron’s standard as the true home run champion.

EndTheDebate believes that there is only one way to answer this question: by having a legitimate and fully open vote on the fate of Bonds’ 755th home run ball. Why? Aaron hit 755 home runs. If he is the true home run king, there can be only one 755 ball in the Baseball Hall of Fame. If Bonds’s record is legitimate, his 755th ball should sit alongside Aaron’s in Cooperstown.

So we at EndTheDebate banded together, raised money, and bought Ball 755 at auction on Saturday. Now, we are giving the public the chance to END THE DEBATE.

Starting Wednesday, you will have the chance to vote once per day on the fate of the ball. Based on your votes, we will either DONATE Bonds’ 755th to the Baseball Hall of Fame, or DESTROY the ball by smashing it into pieces, leaving Hank Aaron’s 755 as the sole display of this long-standing record. On our site, you will know that your vote counts by following the tally on our live scoreboard.

Is Barry Bonds a cheater or the home run champ? You will be given the chance to cast your vote. And by following our real-time scoreboard, you’ll know that we at EndTheDebate listened.

Launching Wednesday, September 19 @ 7:55am EST.

It’s official: EndTheDebate, LLC is a Delaware Limited Liability Company. I’m putting together a group of friends and take a serious stab at doing this!

Reading about the auction of Barry Bonds’ 755^th and 756^th home run baseballs, I came up with a wild idea. I guess that’s what happens @ 4:30am after almost 20 straight hours staring at my computer! I want to create a “public forum” for people to voice their opinion on the Barry Bonds controversy. Let the public vote on who the real “Home Run King” is, Hank Aaron or Barry Bonds. Incredibly enough, the domain name EndTheDebate.com was available! What a great name for only $8! They’re estimating $200k for 755 and $500k for 756….I *have* to figure out how I can pull this off…