A San Francisco judge ruled Wednesday that Barry Bonds' record-setting 73rd home run baseball must be sold and the proceeds split between two men battling over the prized souvenir.

"Both men have a claim to the ball, superior against all the world," said Superior Court Judge Kevin McCarthy. "Thankfully, there is a middle ground."

Alex Popov, 38, sued Patrick Hayashi for the baseball, worth more than $1 million by one estimate. Popov was first to get a glove on it, but Hayashi came away with the ball after a minute-long melee in the right field walkway of Pacific Bell park, on Oct. 7, 2001.

The ball will remain in a safe deposit box in Milpitas, Calif., until it is sold to the highest bidder. 

In his 20-minute ruling, McCarthy examined the question of which standard of possession to apply to Popov's would-be catch.  Popov did not achieve full control of the ball, McCarthy decided, but did attain "preposessory rights" by making his attempt and was then "attacked" by a crowd that hindered his efforts.

"This case demands vindication of an important principal," McCarthy told a packed courtroom. "We are a nation governed by law, not by brute force."

Superior Court Judge Kevin McCarthy delivers his ruling.

But McCarthy also backed Hayashi's claim to the ball, saying Hayashi, too, was a victim of the mob.  Popov had argued that Hayashi, 37, a software engineer, "pummeled" his way to the ball. "He, like Mr. Popov, was forced involuntarily to the ground. He committed no wrongful act," McCarthy said.

In the end, McCarthy borrowed from an 1896 New Jersey case in which five boys who found a sock filled with $775 were awarded an equal portion after fighting over ownership. 

"Albeit for different reasons, they stand before the court in exactly the same legal position as did the five boys.  Their legal claims are of equal quality, and they are equally entitled to the ball," said McCarthy. 

McCarthy's ruling came more than a year after San Francisco Giants' slugger Bonds set a major league baseball record with the home run. In a post-game press conference, Bonds suggested the men split the ball.

But the men were not able to reach a settlement after four pretrial conferences. Popov claimed to want to keep the ball, whereas Hayashi was willing to sell it and divide the proceeds, with a larger portion for himself.

Footage of the home run and the ensuing melee shot by a local cameraman featured heavily in the three-week courtroom battle.  A freeze-frame analysis of the video, shot only feet from where the ball landed, shows the ball clasped in the webbing of Popov's Spalding mitt for about six-tenths of a second before he falls into the pile-up.

Lawyers for both sides relied on eyewitness testimony to script the scramble for the ball, which the news footage did not catch head-on.

Hayashi's lawyers maintained throughout the trial that "it's not a catch if you drop the ball" and that the "culture and practice" in the stands allows for some reasonable jostling.

Popov's team argued that there was no "test of time" to demonstrate possession, suggesting that the six-tenths of a second the ball spent in Popov's glove were sufficient.

Both Popov and Hayashi testified during the trial, framing their respective cases for McCarthy, who was charged with rendering a verdict in lieu of a jury.