Buzz Break: Fanatics Phillies game-used baseball mystery box

From time to time, Buzz will break a box of something and post the results here. Like this and want to see more? Or maybe there's a box you'd want to see busted? Send Buzz an email at BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com.

The box: Fanatics Philadelphia Phillies game-used baseball mystery box
The cost: $39.95 (via JCPenney.com)

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

Autographs/Memorabilia: 1
Game-used baseball (MLB Authenticated): Chicago Cubs vs. Philadelphia Phillies on Aug. 27, 2017

The matchup: Cubs SP John Lackey vs. Phillies P Nick Pivetta ... and Lackey vs. C Cesar Hernandez
The result: Ball used for strikeout vs. Pivetta ... and for two pitches vs. Hernandez

What's Buzz-worthy: This team's mystery box is a little different than others in that they allow you to pick a date for your Phillies game from last season but you don't know what you'll get. In this case, I chose a game against the Cubs just to see what kind of young-star potential might come back. Instead I got career strikeout No. 2,269 for John Lackey, a veteran who won 188 games and has three World Series rings. (He did strike out a rookie pitcher so there was some youth attached to this one.) It also was a Players Weekend game, which you can see from the uniform in the Getty Images photo below. That image is from the third inning so it just might show this ball in use -- it was used for five of 11 pitches in the inning but it's not conclusive. (You can see the results in the authentication info and MLB.com screenshots below.) It's a ball with some nice scuffing, some light clay, a good smooth but textured rubdown and a big ol hunk of something that likely led it to being pulled from play. This was the sixth strikeout of the game as part of an eight-K day for Lackey and he had only 25 more after that in his career. The Cubs lost this one 6-3 and this was his final loss of the season -- No. 127 for his career. Highlights later in this game included homers from Nick Williams (eighth of his career) and Rhys Hoskins (11th of his career) but this ball was long gone by that point. ... You can also select a ball from a number of other games at a slightly higher price ($49.95) via Fanatics at the link above and those are likely from more substantial plays or players, though this one seems like it over-delivered for the cheaper option. I've grabbed a few of these from a few teams in recent months and you'll see more of these here from time to time.

Product Grade: A
Pack Grade: A
Fun Grade: A-

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