Buzz 12 in 12: Busting a Fanatics Houston Astros game-used baseball mystery box (Hour 8)

Do you like Buzz Breaks? Today's your day then as we launch 12 in 12 -- a series of a dozen breaks of wax boxes and wax packs in a dozen hours. We'll post one every hour all day long ... this is Hour 8.

The box: Fanatics Authentic Houston Astros game-used baseball mystery box
The cost: $39.95

What's inside this one? Keep reading ...

Game-used baseballs per box: 1

Autographs/Memorabilia: 1
MLB Authenticated game-used baseball (1) – Houston Astros at Texas Rangers, Sept. 2, 2016 -- Astros SP Doug Fister vs. Rangers CF Ian Desmond -- hit for a double in bottom of first inning (fielded by Jake Marisnick and Carlos Correa)

What's Buzz-worthy: An extra-base hit isn't the norm for a mystery box -- at least in my experience -- so this was a bit of a surprise. It was Desmond's 27th double of the season and 212th of his career and it came very early in a 10-8 Rangers win in this battle of Texas, aka The Lone Star Series. (The Rangers won 15 of 19 games against the Astros this season so this wasn't anything unusual.) The loss was Fister's 10th of the season and 73rd of his career. Other highlights later in this game included the sixth homer of rookie Alex Bregman's career, the 418th homer of Carlos Beltran's career, the 53rd homer of Rougned Odor's career and the 87th homer of Jonathan Lucroy's career. This older ball doesn't have info for all plays where it may have been used, just its final one when this was a double to center field off an 86.8 mph four-seam fastball with a full count. It was fielded by Jake Marisnick and Carlos Correa and the play moved Nomar Mazara to third -- but everybody was left stranded as Fister retired the next three batters. Based on a review of game video (a basic gif of sequence is below), it appears the ball could have been used for the entire at-bat against Desmond as well as a pick-off attempt to first base during this at-bat and for a pitch to Carlos Beltran in the next at-bat in the dirt -- that's the only time a ball is absolutely seen being taken out of play. (Definitely a situation where that new fully detailed MLB Authentication listing would be good.) For a mystery box, this one feels like a win despite it being a ball that's relatively clean and free of dramatic marks.

Product Grade: A
Box Grade: A
Fun Grade: A

What's next? Be back in an hour ...

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