#9. Bonds Breaks a Record — Gets Indicted
With his 756th long ball during a home game against the Washington Nationals on Aug. 7, Barry Bonds surpassed Hank Aaron's record to become the new home-run king. The celebrations were tempered, of course, by the steroid scandal that swirls around the San Francisco Giants slugger like the jeering fans who held up asterisks signs at every game as he neared the record. According to leaked grand jury testimony from December 2003, Bonds admitted to using steroids but denied knowing that they were performance-enhancing drugs. But federal prosecutors didn't buy it: As a result of that testimony, Bonds was indicted in November for perjury and obstruction of justice, and faces up to 30 years in prison. (He has pleaded not guilty.) While Bonds waits to see how his case and his career play out, his record-breaking home-run ball seems destined for a similarly cloudy fate: It was bought for $752,467 by fashion designer Marc Ecko, who plans to brand it with an asterisk and donate it to the Baseball Hall of Fame.