On the Bodog site, for example, you can bet the series (June 22 to 24 in San Francisco is the 7-2 favorite), the inning (the first inning is favored at 3-1) and the count (one ball and one strike is top choice at 3-1) when Bond’s 756th home run will occur. Chief oddsmaker Richard Gardner says “proposition bets” (wagers on questions other than game outcome) are fun for his crew. “Our baseball work is largely mechanical,” he says. “This is one time we get to use our creative side.” While Bonds’s career tendencies were researched to determine certain odds, some “props” can be rather arbitrary. You can bet, for example, on whether the person who catches the record blast will be older or younger than 37½. While younger fans tend to populate the cheaper outfield seats, the oddsmakers expect well-heeled fans, likely to be older, to buy up many of those tickets for key games. Another wager offered is on the duration of Bonds’s home-run trot—with the over/under line now set at 27.5 seconds. That may prove to be a bet on where Bonds sets the record: at home in San Francisco, he may bask in the cheers; on the road, where the reception could be frosty or worse, he may opt for a quick circuit and swift exit into the dugout.
