MLB Game Used Baseballs

I used to be a big NBA fan, but if you watch it long enough, it becomes a repetitive & predictable game.  In the NBA, "dynasty" is the norm.  When David Stern was the NBA, you really questioned the refs.  "Superstar Treatment" was painfully obvious, and the league even had a name for it: "Benefit of Doubt".  

No.  You call whichever call you think is right, regardless of whether the player's European, or coming off the bench.  "Benefit of $$$" is more like it.  Today's NBA isn't bad, but now the superstar players form "Super Friends" & that's another kind of bull shit, too.  No, thank you.

So, I go back to my first love:  Baseball.  A sport I never followed seriously.  But you know what?  It's competitive.  No Golden State Warriors, or Cleveland Cavaliers here.  Officiating actually amazes me.  Consistency with the strike zone's hit & miss, but overall, it's a refreshing to follow even if my team Atlanta Braves are horrible.

So the game used baseballs. Generally, I would never buy something like this.  Even if it's authenticated by some "expert", I don't know them.  How do I know if memorabilia like this is a real deal?  Apparently, this became a serious enough problem that MLB started getting hands on with authentication:

More on this on the MLB authentication page here.

Anywho, after finding this out.  I searched eBay for "game used" Atlanta Braves baseball.  I always thought it would be cool to have legit MLB baseball used in a actual Braves game.....  I couldn't find any that I liked.  Most weren't authenticated, some were too much money, but bottom line, there just weren't that many to be had on eBay.  So I changed the search term from the Braves to my favorite baseball player:  Ichiro.

The ball I bought is the third one pitched.

I ended up paying WAY more than I had planned to spend.  Listed for $100 + shipping on eBay, got it for $75(best offer) + $3 shipping.  You type up the code on the tamper-proof hologram sticker on MLB Authentication website & voila:

Ichiro grounded it into a force play, but the ball was hit by future HoF player Ichiro!  I'm happy to have it.  Extra cool to have had MLB stream subscription this season & I actually have the footage of Ichiro hitting the baseball I now own.   :)

I just think it's such a cool thing for MLB to do.  I just need the Braves authenticated game used baseball now, oh, there it is:

My email box gets spammed by the online MLB store pretty hard, and when they had 30% off sale, I checked to see maybe they had game used ball, bam!  Julio Teheran pitched baseball from 2016 season.  With the discount, $32.98(shipped).  Yes! 

Now, I'm content with the two game used baseball.....  

Wait.  Is there three baseball?  It's another Braves ball.  Erick Aybar(no longer w/Braves, but I liked him) ground out against my second favorite team, St. Louis Cardinals @ Busch Stadium.  I couldn't help it.  On eBay for $15.99, shipped.

I get the feeling I'll have couple more of these things before the next season's over......