San Francisco ? The trial regarding Barry Bonds’ record 73rd home run baseball began Tuesday with two men and their respective lawyers still deadlocked over ownership of the coveted ball.

Opening statements by attorneys for Alex Popov and Patrick Hayashi are set to begin Wednesday before San Francisco Superior Court Judge Kevin McCarthy.

Some pre-trial motions from both sides, seeking to exclude expert witness testimony, were addressed Tuesday afternoon.

Popov sued Hayashi last year, claiming he caught the Bonds home run ball and that Hayashi only ended up with it after it was wrestled away. Hayashi emerged from the fan pile with the ball on Oct. 7, 2001.

The ball remains locked away in a safety deposit box under a judge’s order.

Three mediation sessions failed to settle Popov’s claim against Hayashi. Experts in sports memorabilia sales say the ball could easily fetch more than $1 million at auction.

The trial will be heard without a jury and is expected to take as long as three weeks.