Hall of Fame Position on Barry's 756 Ball

I wrote to the Hall of Fame a while back expressing my dissatisfaction with their participaton in Ecko's defacement of the #756 ball (copy of my message below):

Department:
info@baseballhalloffame.org

Subject:
Home Run Ball #756

Question and/or Comment:
I am very perturbed that the Baseball Hall of Fame is participating in the very public "attention grabbing" situation with Mr. Ecko. As a museum, it should be about preserving pieces of baseball history as memorabilia. Participating in Mr. Ecko's scheme to deface the ball in question for the sole purpose of making attention grabbing headlines and making a statement about his feelings about Mr. Bonds is very distasteful on the museum's part. The right thing to do by the Hall of Fame would've been to inform Mr. Ecko that you would accept the ball as long as it was intact and not defaced. It is shameful for the museum to be involved in this publicity stunt. The Board of Directors of this museum should apologize to the public for getting involved in this.
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Below is the Hall of Fame's response:

Dear Friend:

Thank you for your letter regarding Barry Bonds' 756th home run baseball which is being donated to the museum.  Thank you for taking the time to express your views and we apologize for the delay in returning a reply.

We understand your consternation in the Museum accepting this donation, but we strongly believe it is a relevant and important artifact that belongs in Cooperstown.   As an American history museum, our core mission is to tell the story of baseball history, both in the context of how it unfolds on the field, and also as it relates to American culture.  

As you know, the baseball from Bonds' 756th home run is being donated with an asterisk affixed to it. We do not condone defacing artifacts and would have preferred the baseball be donated in its natural state.  We were willing to look beyond that in this instance, because of the historical relevance connected to the baseball.  We will explain why it is defaced and what led to it being donated to the Museum in that condition.

In our opinion, the baseball speaks to many significant parallels between baseball and culture in 2007, some of which include: a representation of baseball fans' sentiments about the home record, for a one-week period in September 2007; a symbol of the adversity Barry Bonds had to endure in passing Hank Aaron to become the all-time home run champion, and; the passion baseball fans have for baseball history, as evidenced by the popularity of the online poll, in which 10 million votes were cast during a one-week period.

When this artifact is eventually donated and placed on display in the Museum, the entire story -- from when the baseball left Barry Bonds' bat and ended up in Cooperstown -- will be presented fairly and balanced with facts and not supposition: We share baseball history through exhibits and let our visitors interpret their own feelings.

Additionally, please know we have several other artifacts graciously donated by Barry Bonds from his career, including his historic 755th and 756th home runs.

We hope this sheds some light into our thinking.  Thanks again for sharing your opinion, which we value.