Weary of the monthlong saga, Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Luis Gonzalez chewed gum in front of television cameras on Thursday, then put the gum in a bottle for mailing to an Arizona radio station.

The public chewing was intended to end any dispute over the authenticity of another piece of Gonzo-chewed gum being sold at auction on the Internet.

Prior to Thursday night's Arizona-Colorado game, Gonzalez chewed gum near the dugout at Coors Field while the media watched and cameras whirred. He placed the gum in an empty plastic water bottle, which was tagged with the date, 4-11-02.

After he autographed the bottle, Gonzalez told the gathering of reporters, "This is officially the dumbest news conference I've ever been a part of."

The bottle was then to be sent to Tucson radio station KRQ.

KRQ disc jockey Johnjay Van Es said the station will hold the gum until the auction wraps up Monday evening. The original gum is still in the hands of Wood Lake, Minn., memorabilia store owner Jason Gabbert, who said he collected it at a spring training game in Tucson.

Both the station and Gabbert are taking bids through their Web sites, Van Es said. The winner will get both pieces of gum.

Gonzalez had originally agreed to chew the gum while on the air with Van Es on Thursday morning. Gonzalez did blow a bubble during a call from his Denver hotel room to Van Es' show, but then revealed his plan to do it at the ballpark before TV cameras.

"It's tacky at the top," Gonzalez said of the gum as he placed it in the container. "I'm hoping this craziness stops for a while. The first couple of days it was fun. But I'd like to get back to playing baseball.

"Fans at every ballpark I've gone to lately have asked me to throw my gum towards them. It used to be a wrist band, a batting glove a bat or a ball and now it is bubble gum. I've never done tobacco. At least it is gum."

After hints that Gonzalez might have to provide DNA samples, the player decided to chew in front of witnesses and send the gum to the radio station.

"Whoever bids on it, they can have it," he said. "I'm through with it. This is it. This is not a once-a-week bubble gum show."

The proceeds from the auction will be collected by the Tucson station and then sent to Lakeside, Minn., High School. The station will deliver the gum to the person with the winning bid.

"We want to get it over with but we don't want the school to lose anything," Van Es said.

Bids for the gum offered by Gabbert had climbed to about $3,400 by Thursday, but there have been questions about the gum's authenticity.

Tom Vigilante, who owns Vigilante Security Services of Phoenix, said he had an affidavit signed by one of his guards denying Gabbert's story that he had gotten the gum from the guard.

In fact, the guard said, he saw Gabbert pick up another piece of gum at the March 7 game and say "this will do."

Gabbert said the security guard is lying.

Gabbert said Thursday's events should lay doubts to rest.

"If people have any questions about the (original) gum, which we don't believe they should, the chain of custody of the new gum will be so tight that there will be no doubt left whatsoever," Gabbert said. "That's the way it should be in any auction."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.