The ball Barry Bonds launched for his record-breaking 756th home run took a strange turn Tuesday on its possible path to the Hall of Fame.

First, the Hall announced it wouldn't take the asterisk-stamped souvenir because talks with its owner broke down over whether the ball would be loaned or donated. Hours later, the man who paid $752,467 for the prize presented a different view.

"At this time, the ball is on route to the Hall of Fame," fashion designer Marc Ecko said in a statement. "I hope that they will accept it and honor their commitment to display it at some point in time."

Ecko spokeswoman Laurie Baker said the ball would be offered as a "permanent donation."

Not since Boston first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz caught the last out of the 2004 World Series has a Hall-bound ball caused so much commotion. It was uncertain whether the Bonds ball would actually wind up inside the shrine at Cooperstown, N.Y.

"Should the owner choose to unconditionally donate the ball, we would be delighted and, of course, accept the offer and would display it at some point in time," Hall spokesman Brad Horn said Tuesday night.

Horn said new artifacts need to be mounted and labeled before they can be shown. If the Hall took the Bonds ball, he said, there would be no delay in presenting it.

"It would be the same thing we told Ken Griffey Jr. about his batting helmet from his 600th home run," Horn said.

Ecko bought the 756 ball in an online auction last September, a month after Bonds broke Hank Aaron's career home run record.

Ecko then asked fans to vote in an Internet poll on what he should do with the ball. The winner: Brand it with an asterisk, to reflect the steroid allegations surrounding Bonds, and give it to the Hall.

The ball indeed was marked, with the asterisk dye-cut into the cowhide where "Major League Baseball" is printed.

Nearly all of the Hall's 35,000-plus artifacts were given on a permanent basis. The Hall does make exceptions, especially when it has nothing else to illustrate a story - Willie Mays loaned the glove he used to make his famous, over-the-shoulder catch in the 1954 World Series.

Bonds donated the batting helmets he wore when he hit his 755th and 756th home runs.

After many conversations back and forth, the Hall said Tuesday afternoon that recent talks with Ecko had "unfortunately reached an impasse."

"The owner's previous commitment to unconditionally donate the baseball has changed to a loan. As a result, the Hall of Fame will not be able to accept the baseball," the Hall said.

Early Tuesday evening, Ecko responded.

"I am surprised that the Hall issued a statement that said they would no longer accept the Barry Bonds' 756th home run baseball. We had been in communication with them just this morning and the Hall did not mention that they would change their position and no longer accept the ball," he said.

"Based on the Hall of Fame's previous statements that they would both accept and display the ball, the only open issue we were talking about was the Hall's recent indication of discomfort in displaying it and addressing the controversy surrounding the record."

The Hall held many internal discussions and consulted with several prominent museums last year before deciding it would accept the marked ball.

Bonds called Ecko an "idiot" when the designer announced plans to hold the vote. The slugger later said he would boycott the Hall if it displayed the ball with an asterisk.

Bonds finished the season with 762 home runs. The San Francisco Giants did not offer him a contract for this year, and he hasn't gotten an offer to play for another team.

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