POWER OF ATTORNEY


KNOW ALL BY THESE PRESENTS, that the undersigned hereby
constitutes and appoints Charles E. Baker, Donald C. Lewis,
Robert W. McClelland, Mary L. Rose and David A. Westerlund,
and each of them acting or signing alone, as his or her true
and lawful attorney-in-fact to:

(1)	execute for and on behalf of the undersigned, in the
undersigned's capacity as a director of Ball Corporation (the
"Company"), any and all reports required to be filed by the
undersigned in accordance with Section 16(a) of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934 and the rules thereunder;

(2)	do and perform any and all acts for and on behalf of
the undersigned which may be necessary or desirable to
complete and execute any such Form 3, 4 or 5 or other
required report and timely file such report with the
United States Securities and Exchange Commission and
any stock exchange or similar authority; and

(3)	take any other action of any type whatsoever in
connection with the foregoing which, in the opinion of
such attorney-in-fact, may be of benefit to, in the best
interest of, or legally required by, the undersigned, it being
understood that the documents executed by such attorney-in-fact
on behalf of the undersigned, pursuant to this Power of Attorney,
shall be in such form and shall contain such terms and
conditions as such attorney-in-fact may approve in his discretion.

The undersigned hereby grants to each such attorney-in-fact full
power and authority to do and perform each and every act and
thing whatsoever requisite, necessary, and proper to be done in
the exercise of any of the rights and powers herein granted, as
fully to all intents and purposes as the undersigned might or
could do if personally present, with full power of substitution
or revocation, hereby ratifying and confirming all that such
attorney-in-fact, or his or her substitute or substitutes,
shall lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue of this
Power of Attorney and the rights and powers herein granted.
The undersigned acknowledges that no such attorney-in-fact,
in serving in such capacity at the request of the undersigned,
is hereby assuming, nor is the Company hereby assuming, any of
the undersigned's responsibilities to comply with Section
16 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

This Power of Attorney shall remain in full force and effect
until the undersigned is no longer required to file reports
under Section 16 with respect to the undersigned's holdings
of and transactions in securities issued by the Company,
unless earlier revoked by the undersigned in a signed
writing delivered to the foregoing attorneys-in-fact.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned has caused this
Power of Attorney to be executed as of this
28th day of April 2004.


Signature: /s/ Jan Nicholson