Speeding Cyclist Almost Kills Pedestrian
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Day Around the Bay
![_Officer-Involved Fatal Shooting in Bayview [Updated]](http://sfist.com/assets_c/2011/07/bullet_casings-thumb-110x110-642500.jpg)
Officer-Involved Fatal Shooting in Bayview [Updated]
Sunday: Watch Women's World Cup Finals at Public House
[Ed. Note: This story was filed before we learned of the tragic events in the stadium parking lot that Friday night, but was held up due to email errors - our humor here is in no way meant to belittle that crime.]
The big news in San Francisco over the weekend was, of course, Barry hitting home run #700. Oh, and the Giants are still up by a half game in the pennant race, but nevermind that. Barry hitting #700 could only mean one thing - a fight over who got the ball. Possession being nine/tenths of the law, the ball in question is right now the personal property of 25-year-old Pacifica man, Steven Williams. Williams claims that he had just come back from the bathroom when Bonds hit the ball and got it by throwing himself into the scrum that broke out. Besides getting the ball, Williams also was the proud owner of a boo-boo that he says was received trying to fetch the ball. Others, however, are claiming that they too had the ball, including an eleven year old kid whose father claimed was "jumped" by about five guys as soon as he touched it (won't somebody think of the children!?). Williams is honoring the momentousness of the occasion by cashing in and selling it for the money.
But maybe he shouldn't. In a twist worthy of an O Henry short story or some other sort of moralistic claptrap our teachers made us read to teach us lessons, the lucky people who have caught Barry's historic blasts and tried to sell it have met bad luck in doing so. In 2002, the person who caught home run #70, Charles Murphy, initially refused an offer for $100,000, calling it ridiculous, and wound up selling it for only $52,500. The person who caught #600, Jay Arsenault, emerged from the fight over the ball with blood all over his face and when he tried to sell the ball, was immediately sued by the friends who gave him the ticket. Then, of course, there are the two people who claimed to have caught ball #73, Alex Popov and Patrick Hayashi, who infamously went to court over the ball and wound up having to share the proceeds of the sale with each other. Or more like they're lawyers did. Indeed, the only person to have found happiness in catching the ball is good ole Larry Ellison (no, not that Larry Ellison), the guy in the boat wearing the Arnold Schwarzanegger mask who caught both #660 and #661. He gave the ball back, got all sorts of goodies from the Giants, and as far as we can tell, has not been sued. So Steven Williams, let that be a lesson to you. Indeed, let that be a lesson to you all.
SFist Jon, contributing.
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