Mpire and eBay Enable Sports Fans to Track Auction of Bond’s Famous “715 Home Run Ball”

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Website will Showcase Bond’s Legendary Homerun and Allow Fans to Track The Price, Place Bids, and Purchase Other Famous Baseball Memorabilia

WHAT:

Mpire, an online shopping service that shows users the true market value of used and hard-to-find items, has teamed with eBay to celebrate the upcoming auction of San Francisco Giant Barry Bond’s 715th home run ball. A special website, at www.ebay.com/715 was launched today to track all of the bidding excitement, and will allow sports fan, collectors and memorabilia junkies to:

• Place bids for their chance to own the famous homerun ball
• View a short animation to see how the ball was recovered by unsuspecting fan Andrew Morbitzer
• Watch highlight clips of the home run hit courtesy of ESPN 360
• Access pricing information to track the worth of other baseball memorabilia
• Easily purchase favorite baseball items using Mpire’s shopping service

WHY:

Mpire created the “715 Home Run” site for eBay so the world can watch the activities unfold as bidders decide just how much Bond’s famous baseball is worth. Other interesting baseball and sport memorabilia statistics include:

• Hank Aaron takes the #1 selling spot when it come to jerseys of the home run kings. His jersey fetches an average $73.54 per jersey, followed by Babe Ruth at $62.46 and Bonds himself at $40.00.
• The all time home run leader is also the leader of Bobblehead prices amongst the greats – Aaron’s “Hammering Hank” bobblehead goes for a whopping $52.33, followed again by Bonds at $23.25 and Babe Ruth at $17.84.
• Team jerseys are also popular sellers – leading the race are the Pittsburgh Pirates at $49.76, no doubt influenced by Bonds in his rookie days!

WHEN:

The “715 Home Run Ball” site is LIVE as of today (7/12/06) with a countdown to the bidding start date.

WHERE:

On the Web at http://www.ebay.com/715

WHO

Dave Cotter, co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Mpire, is available today through the auction’s end to provide real-time data and running commentary on how Bond’s famous baseball is scoring with bidders, and how these compares to famous counterparts.