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......

Happy 4th of July!!

Happy 4th of July!

Got this picture in the email from Aero Precision.  Very cool!

PROPEL DOWNRANGE AO 30-000725

I see a pic of this knife online one day.  "Man, I wish I was in market for one...."  I google it, it was $140.  Forget about it.  I already have two good Benchmade pocket knives.  Full size Griptilian & my current EDC knife HK Axis.  

Not two days later, there's a email from Botach Tactical advertising this knife for $40 on eBay.  I still didn't need a new knife, but I couldn't resist offering $35 using their "Best Offer".  They accepted it.  XD

Color is more like in the Gerber stock photo at the top.  Lighting made the grip color really pale for some reason.  Grip is big, blade is tad bit shorter than my Benchmade.

The round silver button is not the "fire" button, like with the automatic knives.  As the "AO" in the name suggests, this is an "assisted-opening" knife.  It means that you still have to flick the knife open using the thumb stud on the blade.  Spring assist you in opening the blade, but it's not a push button open.

Like with firearms, when you slide the safety to show "red", it's ready to go(open, fire, whatever).  It's really rough/hard opening, but I'm guessing it has to be broken-in.  If stiffness continues, I might lube it(let's get your mind out of the gutter).

I still think Benchmade is way better, but this knife is WAY too cool for $35.  Botach rules!

Rain! Rain! Rain! Plinking in the Northwest.

Burris AR-536  sights are waterproof..... I hope they are right.

Welcome to plinking in Oregon.  Yeah, it's wet.  :(

Glock 19(left) is my new gun.  Just shot it for the first time.  It hits really low, which is concerning.  USP on the right was dead on.

Thankfully, it stopped raining shortly.  It was really chilly before too, but the sun fixed that very quickly.  Fog forming over the ground was kinda cool.

Letting guys try out my Bushmaster, now equipped with Burris AR-536.  Cheap Chinese laser boresighter screwed it up really good, even before I got to sight it in for the first time.  While the scope isn't completely sighted in, red dot(on top of scope) now is dialed in!  So much fun.

I didn't take one selfie!  This shot is too close for mug like this, I agree.  It was the only shot  of myself I could reover from a video I took of the area.  Oh, well.

I wiped down the firearms real well when I got home, but I don't have it in me to clean them.  At least they are dry, I'll clean & lube them later.  :D

On Netflix: Train To Busan

Initially, it felt like a huge "World War Z" ripoff.  On how the zombies act, it is a ripoff of World War Z.  Where I thought this film excelled, pretty much everywhere else.  Direction, plot, acting, they were all above average to good.  It did knock it out of the ballpark in one area & that's this concept with the train ride.  It's a zombie survival on a frigging train!

I think my only gripe was how on a one key death, it took like five minutes for the character to turn into a zombie, when everybody else turned quickly.  In these zombie flicks, you have to set the rules, then follow them.  Also, no guns in this movie(not really).  ;)

Burris AR-536 "Tactical Kit"

I used to play first person shooters, mainly when Call of Duty was the thing.  CoD4 to Modern Warfare 3(never got into Black Ops).  Ever since the CoD4, I had a thing for red dot sights.  In video games, it made the target acquisition unbelievably easier.  I wanted this in real life, too.  :D

For while, I checked out the EOTech XR308.  EOTech of course is the name nearly synonyms with red dot.  While 1x red dot made sense for shorter range AR-15s, I was hesitant in putting that kind of limitation on my .308 caliber Bushmaster rifle.  

Next one I looked at were the ACOGs.... but those things are out of my price range.  They are typically $1,000 to maybe double that I think?  I believe I finally found the decent compromise & for good price.  

$470, shipped.....  It might've been $475 after the $5 charge for faster shipping(which absolutely failed!).  Unsatisfied with the seller, but happy with the item so far.  It features FastFire 3 mini red dot on top of the AR-536 scope with 5x magnification.  Not that I'm going to torture test it, but the scope is advertised as shock & weather proof.

Inside the Plano water/shock resistant case:  FastFire 3/AR-536, sunshade(attached on scope), red dot cover, anti-glare attachment + manuals, tools, etc.

Red dot cover.

Clear plastic windows at both ends.

Anti-glare/reflection device.

Sunshade is attached, focus ring is actually hidden with the rear flip-up cover slipped over it.  Very cool thing about this kit is that when I ordered mine, it was said to come with FastFire 2 red dot, not the FastFire 3.  After ordering mine, I read that with the FastFire 2, you have to remove the sight to change batteries & I was kicking myself for missing that bit of detail.  With the 3, you can change the battery from the top.  It was quite a pleasant surprise when the kit came with the FastFire 3, not the 2.  :D

I've never shot past 200 yards, so I will have very little use for those bullet drop compensation dots.  Reticle is normally black, but you can light it up in five different brightness, in green or red.  FastFire 3 red dot has three brightness you control with the on/off button.

From the right:

Left:

Top:

Bottom.  Sneaky "Made in China" sticker.  

FastFire 3:

I'm not gonna lie, red dot isn't as easy as it was in Call of Duty.  lol  However, it does seem to be heck a lot easier than other types of sights.  I'll know more for sure when I actually shoot with it.

On my Bushmaster MOE 308.  I'm going to shoot with it positioned here, at least at first.  Eye-relief is better if I take that Magpul backup sight(far-left on the picatinny rail) off & position the scope way at the back.  I'm tad hesitant to take the backup rear sight off, but we'll see if the scope work well enough where it's at.

Many reviews I read complained of canted(crooked) reticle.  It looks funny here, but when I'm not looking through my smartphone camera, it looks perfectly fine.  

I removed the sunshade & side picatinny rails from my scope.  I think it looks good!

With the 25-round mag.  With the .308/7.62x51, it looks big for AR. lol

I was hoping to sight this in yesterday, but I wasn't ready & didn't have the time.  Maybe next weekend.  I'm going to get the laser bore sight tool out & get it close before taking it out to the range to sight it in properly.  

Edit:  Got to finally test it out.  Weather resistant.  :D

Edit 2: Over a year of ownewship, I've come up with 3 major gripes:

1. Eye-relief.  I cannot use this scope with the rear Magpul MBUS backup flip sight due to eye-relief.  I have red dot sight on top of the scope, it's not a deal breaker, but it would've been nice to have that insurance.
2. One day, I find the scope moving around a tiny bit.  It turns out the screws that attaches base to the scope has come loose.  I can't believe they weren't secured with some kind of thread lock.
3. Rear lens flip-up cap.  This thing comes loose every chance it gets.  It can seem like it's coming off every frigging time you handle the rifle.  You can't tape it up, because it slips over focus dial.  I'm thinking about maybe adding tape or something inside the ring to tighten the fit. *rolleyes*