When the St. Louis Cardinals game used baseballs went on sale on mlb.com, I looked up the dates when the Cardinals played the Braves. There were couple different games available. I went with the game Kurt Suzuki & Yadier Molina were catching, as they are couple of my favorite players(I'm a Braves fan, but Cardinals my second fav). I thought, it's on sale, if I get lucky, I can get the Kurt Suzuki game used baseball.....
*My baseball at around 40 seconds.
It didn't happen, but I was thrilled to get Johan Carmago "single". I love Johan, and "hits" usually go for lot more than I paid, at least on eBay($32 & change, including shipping). Well, I knew that there were three game used baseballs available for that date. I decided that I'll play this lottery game again. I'll scoop up the two remaining balls if they were still there next time it went on sale.
They were on sale again right away. MLB shop/Fanatics stuff is almost always on sale, it's just matter of how much discount. Anywho:
They are here & they were...... Not Yadier Molina or Kurt Suzuki baseball.
Little disappointed that these balls weren't anything interesting, I decided to list them on eBay to get at least some of the money back. While my boy Ender Inciarte were in-action with both baseballs, I still wasn't too excited about either balls.
Just before listing them on eBay, I decided to get on my MLB.TV & watch those 3rd & 9th inning play just for heck of it. Here's the JD288350(3rd inning):
*My ball in play at around 50 second mark.
I couldn't flipping believe it. Who is the catcher? It's the future Hall of Famer Yadier Molina! I'm so stupid I totally spaced it. Yadi is a catcher, and while his name isn't necessarily recorded with the hologram #, he caught those balls! I was even more excited after Max Fried strikeout, he tosses the ball to the all-star third baseman Matt Carpenter. :)
This ball was out of play after 3 balls & 2 strikes to Ender, and I was wondering what happened to it. Just as guessed, the fifth pitch was in the dirt. It's cool to see Yadi scoop it up from the dirt & see umpire toss it to staff, so they can record it & put on the hologram sticker.
I should sell the second baseball though, right? Not quite, because Kurt Suzuki is a catcher, too. I couldn't believe I was this lucky. This ball wasn't handled just by Ender in center field, Kurt Suzuki caught it & tossed it before, too. It's another keeper. :)
Maybe pretty humble as far as "game used" MLB baseballs go, but for me personally, it doesn't get much better than this. Yes, I adore Ozzie, Ronald, Freddie & those guys, but I'm a big fan of Kurt, Johan & Ender too. Also not really interested in paying $100, $200+ for hits & home run balls. It was interesting to see our up & coming pitcher Max Fried's name on it as well. And Yadier Molina, I've liked him forever. Great job by MLB to authenticate this stuff & make them available for fans.
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