Recent MLB Authentication errors

[coxfan]

I've had very successful recent dealings with both the Braves and Royals staff on game-used balls, so this is not a criticism of them at all. They've been helpful and pleasant.

But I've been dismayed to find at least four obvious errors in the MLB database in just two games, one by the Royals and one by the Braves. Three of these errors were mixing up top and bottom of innings: the database had visiting players batting in the bottom, and home players batting in the top. Another error had a pitch in the dirt coded as a broken bat, when it was an authenticated ball.

In each case, the team stores had the items correct on their own records. I suspect that means that the local authenticators had it right on their written sheets, that were provided to the team stores. But somebody else entered it wrong in the MLB database.

What's behind this recent error-rate? Is MLB hiring clerical people who don't know enough about baseball to spot these obvious entry errors?

To her credit, Alyse with the Braves got the errors promptly corrected in the database when I e-mailed her about them. So I emphasize I'm not criticisizing the staff in the team stores. Does somebody here know what's going on with these entry errors?

[lengthwise1]

I got a ball from the Rockies a few weeks back that stated the wrong inning.

I also have a ball from this past Sunday that hasn't shown up in the database yet and its a fairly notable ball.

[coxfan]

I e-mailed authentication@mlb.com several days ago about one of the items that reversed top and bottom of the inning, but have received no reply or correction. Is there another e-mail address I should try?

[Beckster24]

I e-mailed authentication@mlb.com several days ago about one of the items that reversed top and bottom of the inning, but have received no reply or correction. Is there another e-mail address I should try?

Yes there is get in contact with Andrew Rinaldi he was very quick to respond and fix the error to a jersey I purchased recently
andrew.rinaldi@mlb.com

[coxfan]

Thanks, Beckster24. Andrew fixed it within hours.

[yanks12025]

Has anyone ever bought a baseball hologramed by MLB and it turned out not to have been used for the play that the hologram says???

I recently bought a strikeout baseball and in watching the play on video. The catcher throws the ball around the infield after the K but then you see the catcher ask the umpire for a new ball and you see him getting ready to throw it to the pitcher. But then the video stops and can't see whether the pitcher motioned not to use the new ball and stick with the old one.

So in this case would you trust the MLB hologram and that the authenticator watched him still use the old ball. According to the hologram, the ball was used for a strikeout and then a baseball hit then taken out of play.

[coxfan]

Yanks12025: Any ball thrown out of play should be given directly to the authenticator, who should make an immediate note, next to a hologram number on his work sheet, of its use. Authenticators, unfortunately, are not consistent on how careful they are. I noticed at a Rangers' game a year or two ago that the ball boy would confer briefly with the authenticator upon giving him the ball; that may explain why the Rangers' authentications seem to have few errors. But sometimes with other teams the ball boy just tosses it to the authenticator without conferring. That increases the risk of the authenticator marking it down wrong. So looking at other replays may give you a sense of whether ball boys confer or don't with the team in question.

I'd suggest the following: 1) Check the hologram numbers just befote and after your ball. Sometimes you can get a clue whether the ball was correctly listed. 2) Look at the ball. If it seems dirtier than usual, (more than the initial mub-rubbing) that implies being handled more, edpecially by the pitcher. But if you see infield dirt, that comes from either bouncing through the infield, or being pitched or hit into the area of the batter's box. Comparing that to the play-by-play or replays may give a clue on the ball's use.

Another error, which probably doesn't apply to your ball, is when the official scorer changes his ruling. The authenticator may not pick up the change. I found a Braves' ball that was incorrectly entered as a double, when it was a triple. The problem turned out to be that the authenticator hadn't picked up the official scorer's change. ( It had been scored as a double plus fielder's choice, then changed.)

If you can't find obvious problems, I'd trust that the authenticator marked it correctly when he got it.