Through the Eyes of San Francisco Attorney Michael Lee

On October 7, 2001, Barry Bonds hit his 73rd home run to set the Major League Baseball record for home runs in a single season.

In anticipation of catching the record ball, fans flooded a standing room only section in right field of Pacific Bell Park in San Francisco. As the ball came down into the crowd from high in the fall blue sky, fan Alex Popov reached up above the rest and caught it momentarily in his glove. With fans pushing against him, he fell backwards into the mass of bodies and the ball came loose.

Standing a few feet away from Popov, another fan, Patrick Hayashi, also fell to the ground. Hayashi quickly got up to his hands and knees and discovered the home run ball lying on the stadium's cement floor. He picked the ball up, put it in his glove, and was whisked away by security. The ownership of the coveted souvenir, now estimated to be worth $1 million, was bitterly contested in court last fall in a month-long trial that caught the nation's attention and broke new legal ground. This is the story of the ball told through the perspective of Hayashi's attorney, Mike Lee.