Campbellite's disputed catch under court's lock and key

Another fan says he caught Bonds' ball

By Erin Mayes

For Campbell resident Patrick Hayashi, the last month hasn't exactly been a walk in the park. Since he walked out of Pacific Bell Park Oct. 7 with Barry Bonds' 73rd home-run ball tucked in his pocket, the media has been beating down his door; and now a lawsuit has been brought against him by a man who says Hayashi mugged him in the stadium and took what was rightfully his--the baseball.

Because a camera crew caught the mad scramble for the home-run ball on tape, it is undeniable that Alex Popov was the first fan to touch the ball. It landed near the top of the baseball glove he was wearing, and according to Hayashi's defense attorney, Donald Tamaki, it perched there precariously.

"At best, you see a split second where the ball strikes his glove in a snow cone fashion," Tamaki says. "The crowd fell backward one upon the other. It's not surprising that he dropped the ball."

At that point, Tamaki says, Hayashi, who leapt up with the crowd in an attempt to make the catch, fell. While on the ground, Tamaki says he noticed that the ball had fallen out of the mob's grip during the confusion.

"He didn't take it from anybody," Tamaki says. "He didn't strike anybody--it was a free ball.

"There is an allegation that [Popov] was mugged," Tamaki says. "That's something that I don't think is supported by the video. No one is hitting anybody. There's no fistfight breaking out. You see a lot of smiling faces, and no one is arrested or has been charged with any crime. To say that [Popov] is the victim of a criminal act is an exaggeration."

Hayashi declined to comment, and Popov and his lawyer did not return calls before press time.

Popov, a San Francisco resident, has brought a case against Hayashi, claiming the ball was stolen from him. The latest action in the case is the issuance of a temporary restraining order by the San Francisco Superior Court, which ordered Hayashi to lock the baseball into a safe deposit box and hand the keys over to the court, thus preventing him from selling the ball. The historic home run baseball's value is estimated to be $1.5 million.

Some experts say that delaying the sale of the ball could diminish its value.

Tamaki says that most people probably think that money is the driving force in this case.

"But it should be treated like any other baseball that's hit in that park," he says. "We ought to be putting this in perspective. [Popov] is obviously disappointed that he didn't maintain control of the ball, but that's the way it goes.

"The issue here is that I guess from a factual point of view, we don't believe that Mr. Popov maintained control of the ball, and we don't believe that he was assaulted in the stands as he contends," Tamaki says. "From a policy point of view, we believe baseball should be left to baseball. I don't think that anybody wants the courts to be sitting in judgement."

Hayashi is "media shy," according to Tamaki, so his interaction with the press has been limited. After Hayashi got a firm grip on the ball, he was taken to a room at Pacific Bell Park, where the ball was authenticated.

"The press was clamoring to see him, and he didn't want to talk until after the game," Tamaki says. "By the time the press conference came around, he became too nervous to go through with it. The next day there's a camera crew in front of his house."

Since the media frenzy began, Hayashi has held one press conference and appeared on The Today Show with Popov, during which the two argued about the case.

The next step in the case is a Nov. 27 hearing, at which the question of whether the restraining order should be continued until the trial will be answered, Tamaki says.

"There are various issues surrounding that," he says. "He's being restrained from doing something he had no intention of doing anyway. We don't believe the order should have been issued in the first place."

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