Does MLB authentication distinguish between BP & game balls?

[emann]

I recently bought an MLB authenticated major league used game ball from 2007. The holo is real, the ball looks used but is an official minor league ball.

I'm wondering if this could have been used in BP, would the MLB authentication team call it "game used"?

Does anyone know if they call bats used in BP as game used? I seem to remember reading that they do...

[grosenbrook]

Well 2 years ago Ben Sheets threw me a ball during BP and it says Official Major League Baseball on it. It also has a red sharpie marker line on the back, they must do that too BP balls?

[metsbats]

The Mets use official MLB balls during BP but on the sweet spot they are stamped "Practice"

[stretch]

Well 2 years ago Ben Sheets threw me a ball during BP and it says Official Major League Baseball on it. It also has a red sharpie marker line on the back, they must do that too BP balls?

Maybe the Brewers do that but I doubt most teams do.

[allstarsplus]

I recently bought an MLB authenticated major league used game ball from 2007. The holo is real, the ball looks used but is an official minor league ball.

I'm wondering if this could have been used in BP, would the MLB authentication team call it "game used"?

Does anyone know if they call bats used in BP as game used? I seem to remember reading that they do...


Sure, BP bats are considered game used. Just look at some of the Pink Mothers Day bats like Austin Kearns. Never played in game and they call it game used.

It would be bizarre not to use an actual game ball to be hologram'd. You have a rare one there. I think MLB requires a minimum of 5 or 6 balls from each game to be hologram'd.

You never know if after the game they discover some game milestone. Think about it. If DiMaggio was playing today and started a hit streak, the 1st 10 to 20 games wouldn't be a huge deal at first, but could you imagine after breaking a hit streak record you could go back to the team and retrieve balls from the entire streak. You just never know the signifance of the game at the time, but I digress.

[emann]

Sure, BP bats are considered game used. Just look at some of the Pink Mothers Day bats like Austin Kearns. Never played in game and they call it game used.

It would be bizarre not to use an actual game ball to be hologram'd. You have a rare one there. I think MLB requires a minimum of 5 or 6 balls from each game to be hologram'd.

You never know if after the game they discover some game milestone. Think about it. If DiMaggio was playing today and started a hit streak, the 1st 10 to 20 games wouldn't be a huge deal at first, but could you imagine after breaking a hit streak record you could go back to the team and retrieve balls from the entire streak. You just never know the signifance of the game at the time, but I digress.

Andrew-

Much thanks, this is exactly the sort of thing I was wondering (and fascinating re: the hit streak and mandatory 5-6 balls being holo'd)...

So, the ball I have is from the game where Ivan Rodriguez became 3rd on the all-time games caught list. Did you think this ball was used in the actual game or probably just BP (since it is a minor league ball)? It's obviously an event they could have predicted (he'd either win or lose), so I'd assume they'd max out the balls they could holo...

[sox83cubs84]

Maybe the Brewers do that but I doubt most teams do.

The Royals have done it off and on (in blue pen) for a number of years. This is a half-assed way of IDing your team's BP baseballs so that the other team doesn't end up with them. Most teams that did this either stamped or wrote the sweet spot team ID's. I hope to soon make a bulletin board post on MEARS Online recapping as many of these as I can recall or find.

Dave M.
Chicago area

[coxfan]

When MLB authenticates balls and other items from a game, they're usually in a number sequence. For example, I bought a g-u ball from the Red sox-Rangers' game of 4-6-07. Its hologram number is BB 517031. All the authenticated items from that game, which was the Rangers' home opener, are in the sequence going from BB 517011-BB 517036. That includes 20 g-u balls, 4 bases, and 2 lineup cards all from that game. The following days' games continue the same sequence from "37" up, though they break off suddenly and switch sequences after a series of games.

Thus, you can usually get an idea how many g-u items were authenticated from a certain game by inserting your hologram # and following the numbering sequence both before after your number. Some other games I've seen had only six balls, which is probably standard except for special events like opening day or pre-identified milestones.

Also, some BP balls are recycled g-u balls, but others are factory rejects that are sold more cheaply to teams for BP only because they failed the final rebound tests at the factory. I have a BP ball, ( official MLB) that was sent by the White Sox to their AAA team after use by the White Sox. Then it was then mistakenly sold by the team as a g-u Charlotte ball. It doesn't have the mud rub-on that g-u balls have. It has "practice" stamped on it and " White Sox" hand-lettered on it.

[coxfan]

Another point, that's been made here occasionally but bears repeating. At the factory, MLB balls are tested by throwing them against a screen and measuring their rebound. I've seen a TV show that showed the manufacturing process. The balls are then separated by being put into different chutes. The best balls are marked and packaged for game use. The next best are put into the "practice" chute, and are sold more cheaply as BP-only balls. The rest are put into a chute to be packaged for consumer sales.

I think they are then stamped, so some may be stamped differently depending on their designation. Of course, there's not a sharp line of demarcation, so some really good balls may not make it into the game-ready batch and may be put into one of the other categories depending on business demand.

At game-time, game-ready balls are rubbed with a special mud. This mud looks like a thin, fairly uniform ( but not totally uniform) film around the ball. It's distinguishable from lighter infield dirt ( usually found on only 1 or 2 spots) and darker general dirt, from the outfield and general handling.

If a MLB BP ball doesn't have the mud marking, it wasn't game-used. If it does have the "mud-rubbed" look, it is likely a game-used ball that's being recycled for BP. All my authenticated game-used balls have the "mud-rubbed" look. But none of my 4 BP balls have that look.

[tigerdale]

I started a thread a couple months back, I got two authenticated balls from comerica park in april that were minor league balls...from different minor leagues at that!!

[sox83cubs84]

Back in the pre-MLB Authentication days of the early 1990s, I got two minor league baseballs in MLB BP: An American Association ball hit by Dave Henderson in a Royals BP at County Stadium (the Royals have a AAA team in Omaha), and a Midwest League ball tossed to me by Ellis Burks at the end of a White Sox BP at New Comiskey Park (Chisox had a team at South Bend in the Midwest League at the time).

Dave M.
Chicago area