I think I have said this before right here, but ... sometimes, it's all about timing and some dumb luck.

Collectors of game-used memorabilia for the traditional sports can land things easily -- sometimes right after games they just watched -- in a team gift shop for baseball, football, basketball and so on. But, for other sports or even stuff used in TV shows and movies? Well, you have to know where to look and be ready when auctions or items might pop up by being plugged in.

My latest item in this Collecting Game-used series is a little different than a lot of the baseball, football and other stuff that arrives here each month. I landed this month's item just a week ago today and it all started with a simple Instagram story notice that's come and gone ... but in essence it was a message that said "I'm moving and cleaning out my closet."

I smashed the link and saw what was up for grabs, then I did a deep dive on (Where else?) Instagram, to see what I could find that was photo-matchable and unique (or at least seemed familiar) for a colorful personality and competitor out there in the world of pro wrestling -- and a favorite star of mine for sure. This time, it was something very affordable (not match-used ... I missed on that) and something that still feels right for a star known for a colorful and energetic look with plenty of attitude -- and a piece that seems to kind of pre-date where she's at now in the ring.

Keep reading to see the details ... and the item in action.

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This month's item in the Collecting Game-used series is one that's simple ... but it shows the life of a ball can be brief but still have some fun trivia attached.

This one? It's another of my $10 bargain-bin balls picked up in the past -- a former league MVP who's now in New York being the key name that made me grab it. It's nothing too dramatic, but it definitely shows some use -- and this one is even attached to a pair of pitches.

You can keep reading to see the details ... and the ball in action thanks to the MLB Film Room.

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If you're a regular reader of The Buzz, then you know that Collecting Game-used  is a monthly department offering up a quick look (well, at least most of the time) at a piece of game-used memorabilia in action.

A deep part of my stash for this series are MLB Authenticated baseballs -- a simple kind of item that you can find with more details than ever and plenty of players' names often attached -- and that's what we're getting back to this time. Why do I say that? Well, with the MLB lockout, the MLB Film Room video database that lets you see pretty much anything from recent seasons went dark just like all those rosters on the MLB site and the MLB Network -- at least for current players. All those trivial clips of memorabilia-making moments that aren't home runs or strikeouts are back ... and this time I'll offer up something that we won't be seeing much of again ... some pitcher vs. pitcher action.

You can keep reading to see the details ... and the ball in action.

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I must have done something to make the collecting gods happy ... because The One That Got Away came back to me.

This month's Collecting Game-used item is a piece of photo-matched Sports Illustrated history and you can see it above -- well, sorta -- in all its glory on the Dec. 5, 2016, issue. If you watch Ballers at some point, you'll likely see it somewhere there, too, but that research wasn't necessary for this one this time.

So what's the deal?

In late 2020, a number of props, wardrobe pieces and other items used by cast members in Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's hit HBO series were on the block via Heritage Auctions and ScreenBid. Thanks to some dumb luck back then, I noticed something that the prop masters, the auction company and, based on the price, even the bidders didn't among the more than 500 items up for grabs. One of the suits that was sold -- and there were many in the sale as Ballers might be known for those as much as anything else in Spencer Strasmore's world -- also was worn on the cover of Sports Illustrated. The blue and black plaid custom-made jacket and pants were right there waiting for me at Heritage with a "designed for Dwayne Johnson" tag inside and an opening bid that was easily within my budget -- as long as the bidding didn't get too crazy. How did I know it was that one? I'll get to that. (Spoiler: It's just like matching other pieces in this series of memorabilia stories.)

I was beyond excited about the auction. I lost sleep over it for a couple days before the Sunday sale because this was such an interesting find -- a piece cooler than just something worn on screen. The live auction couldn't come fast enough. I scouted all of the lots, took notes on what I liked and what looked good for the price. I didn't dare mention this piece of trivia at all here on The Buzz, though, but I did tell a couple of relatives. (They looked at me like I was crazy when I mentioned the start price for something I'd never wear.) Another plus for me was that the lot was pretty deep in the auction lineup with many suits dropping before and several after.

Once the auctions started, I took notes about what other suits cost and I scouted back-up pieces I might want -- but nothing truly came close to this one. Nothing. Early on, suits sold for way less than I expected. It really could be mine I thought, though some suits in signature colors (grey/silver) potentially from key moments, posters and DVD covers did sell for more. When my lot finally came up an hour or two in, my fingers went cold. I was nervous. I might have hyperventilated a little (not really ... but maybe ... it's all a blur). I bid. So did somebody else. I bid again (my first bids in Heritage history). They did, too. Deep breaths. I bid again. Than I paused legitimately thinking it was mine as the clock ticked down in slow-motion ... and yet it was not. Things then instantaneously went into fast-forward and there was no time to react once I realized it was gone. I was done faster than Erick Rowan at WrestleMania 32. I was stunned like my chin had just met "Stone Cold." I was hotter than this 'Mania moment. I was out of it -- both the auction running and the world for a bit. It was gone and it hurt. I recovered, though, and later landed another piece with a story that was perhaps bigger so at least there was some Buzzing about the Ballers auction. (That's a classic item, too, if I do say so -- hit that link.) And this tale with The One That Got Away was over, going untold, more than a year ago.

So ... what's the deal in the here and now? Fast-forward to three weeks ago today and a not-yet-caffeinated Buzz checked some Friday-morning email and saw a props-for-sale message from Attro Digital -- a name I didn't recognize but it was essentially the same mailing list for ScreenBid that I had signed up for back in the day. By chance, something caught my eye, so I clicked.

And then I saw "Ballers" ...

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Buzz made a rookie mistake with this one and there's some mystery ... but I might have solved it.

In a nutshell, that's this month's item in this Collecting Game-used series. I grabbed this MLB Authenticated batting practice warm-up last year with a near-instant offer -- one I made before I checked its sticker. And even before I could check the sticker, the seller accepted.

The problem and the rookie mistake here? The item's data has been lost with the MLB Authentication code showing an error message, asking me to contact MLB. (That's something I have done -- and I even sent them some of this info back to their automated response ... though it's not been updated just yet.) I'm no Yankees uniform expert -- I wouldn't want to be -- but this player is one I collect heavily and the price wasn't bad for the type of item, which is "game-used" as in gameday but not, obviously, used on the field during the game.

Despite the ironclad sticker info issue that's still in play here, I'm pretty sure I was able to match this piece to some pre-game action thanks to the typical public resources photo-matchers often use.

You can keep reading to see the details.

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Mia Yim vs. Io Shirai, NXT -- Oct. 2, 2019 (WWE photo)

If you're a regular reader of this Collecting Game-used series, you've seen plenty of game-used baseball memorabilia, some NFL and then some other pieces here and there every month, but to finish off the series this year I figured I'd go with a first for me and my stash of photo-matched pick-ups.

This month, it's my first piece of WWE match-used memorabilia.

Since wrestlers are classified as independent contractors out there on the business side of things, they are responsible for their gear's creation and own it all when their time ends with a promotion, if they decide to move on or change their look for whatever need arises or for character changes. To simplify that, it means with some luck you can get Superman's cape from Superman instead of going through the movie studio -- and that simple metaphor is why I lead things off with the epic photo above.

My new piece is from wrestling veteran and former WWE star Mia Yim -- also known as Reckoning at the recent end of her recent run -- and she had all of those things in play that led some match-used memorabilia to my hands. She's had a pretty consistent gear style for most of her career until the name change and promotion and she recently posted on social media that it was time for some new stuff. That's likely a sign of some new chapters to come and that's how I found this piece -- she was selling the old to add the new. Another cool part? I was able to match things to a number of matches and even some cardboard from Topps. Heck, I even now know who made it for her.

You can see it in action above -- and get the details if you keep reading.

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This month's item in the Collecting Game-used series is one that's simple ... but it shows the life of a ball can be brief but still have some fun trivia attached.

This one? It's another of my $10 bargain-bin balls picked up about a year ago now -- but it's one that now has two World Series rings attached to it. It's nothing too dramatic in terms of use, but visually it does show more than others out there might when it comes to game-used baseballs.

You can keep reading to see the details ... and the ball in action thanks to the MLB Film Room.

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This month's Collecting Game-used item isn't from deep in my stash or some treasure I had to research after finding it on the secondary market -- this one's ironclad but the condition here offers up some interesting questions.

It's a ball taken from the field of play just 20 days ago and you can see the precise pitch and its big-league moment after the jump. For me, this was a first -- my first Bo Bichette game-used item -- and I landed it on the cheap via the home team when the Blue Jays came to town. But, as you can see here, that's a pretty interesting mark where you can literally perhaps see the physics involved after a round ball hit a round bat spinning at a smooth (and documented) 2,046 revolutions per minute. And, if you view the video of it, it's not hard to imagine how those marks perhaps came to be.

You can keep reading to see the details ... and the ball in action.

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Not all gamers are alike, whether they are from the majors or the minors.

I got a reminder of that recently with a weekend grab -- on sale! -- that you see here as MiLB seasons are over and teams need to move their leftover equipment, whether it's from players who just finished their year or players who are not likely to come back as they've been promoted or traded elsewhere to play now or in the future.

In the case of this game-used 2021 Columbus Clippers cap straight from the team? Well, it's from a guy who's been in the big-leagues as well as down on the farm off and on the last few years -- and it's a cap where, admittedly, when I popped open the box I was like "Oh ... this is a little underwhelming." unlike a lot of the other items you have seen in this Collecting Game-used series.

There's plenty of mystery, too, though. Keep reading to see the details.

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As you probably know if you're a regular reader here, Buzz is a fan of the game-used bargain bin just as much as any other ... so this is a result of one of those digs.

This month's item in this Collecting Game-used series? Well, it's another $10 game-used baseball from a recent Philadelphia Phillies firesale -- and it's one with a likely future All-Star's name attached. That name is Dansby Swanson, the Atlanta Braves shortstop who's in the midst of a career year this summer with new highs in hits, doubles, homers and RBI with plenty of time left to play.

The ball? Well, you can keep reading to see the details and see it in action.

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This month's item in this Collecting Game-used series is a perhaps a bit loose in its definition of "use" but here we go ...

In January, I wrote about an item I picked up in last year's Ballers prop auction -- that one a copy of a book held by The Rock in one scene that was the subject of some viral chatter with Elizabeth Warren not all that long ago. Their tweets sparked more than a few stories online as the two went back and forth about her fandom for the show ... then, months later, that book popped up on the auction block with its feathered corners and even an odd extra item inside.

This time? A far more anonymous item that was in the auction and billed as "training-used" by a key character in one episode.

You can keep reading to see the details ...

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What did you land for your last $10 spent 0n collectibles? There's really no wrong answer there -- and there are a lot of possibilities for collectors of pretty much anything out there right now -- but not that long ago I landed a dozen game-used baseballs from the Philadelphia Phillies for, yep, $10 apiece.

This is one of those balls -- and it even included a BallQube -- but I still think it's a nice item for the price.

It wasn't a blind-bag scenario as I picked off a dozen MLB Authenticated game-used baseballs from the cheapest of the cheap -- picking out highlights from a spreadsheet -- as the team was burning off end-of-year inventory along with other balls from the past. The cool part about collecting from the MLB bargain bin for stuff from recent years? You can often find your exact ball (or see other dated game-used items) over in the MLB Film Room, which is a searchable database of pretty much every single play.

You can keep reading to see the details on this one ... and the ball in action.

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There are plenty of everyday kinds of game-used items out there that never show up on the auction block en masse, are rarely cut up and put into sports cards and rarely get autograph or authentication treatment or other attention.

But they are out there -- and they can pop up on the auction block often. Sometimes they can surprise you with how much they sell for -- stuff like champagne corks and bottles have been authenticated and stickered by some teams after championships. Then there are displays using confetti, pieces of floors, dirt, turf, nets ... they've nearly all shown up in cards, too.

But not this one? Nothing like my game-used Gatorade bottle ... at least that I know of. (Tell me if I missed those cards!)

You can keep reading to see the details ...

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Here's the sequel to my recent Cardinals game-used baseball grab from the bargain bin -- it's not quite as flashy as last month, but this one's used by star for the home team and a win for the price of a blaster box if you ask me.

As I noted last time, this was a blind-bag buy ... all you can control is picking the date of your ball. I scouted the schedule and found Game 1 of a doubleheader from last September that had a pair of notable starters and a whole lot of runs scored ... meaning more chances at a notable ball or play.

Thanks to the relatively new MLB Film Room you can easily find clips of plays -- even the mundane ones -- and literally all three pitches where this ball was authenticated as used can be found there.

You can keep reading to see the details ... and the ball in action.

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Earlier this week -- Tuesday, actually -- I got lured into grabbing a couple of game-used balls from the bargain bin of the St. Louis Cardinals via MLB.com after the team's Authentics division sent out an email revealing a slasher sale on 2020 game-used baseballs.

After all, a new year is here and there are already plenty more fresh gamers coming their way.

What I didn't expect from a blind-bag kind of buy was a strong pairing far more impressive than the $22.99 price tag might lead you to believe -- and my strategies for potentially landing a stronger ball paid off, too. What do I mean? Well, they let you pick the date of your ball -- at least if the date is available -- and I quickly scouted the schedule to land upon Game 1 of a doubleheader from an interleague match-up last September that had a pair of notable starters and a whole lot of runs scored ... meaning more chances at a key ball between the throwers or the hitters. (It's also worth noting again that the MLB Film Room also adds value to the basic balls out there en masse, too, as you can easily find clips of plays ... even the mundane ones.)

I did two baseballs to get free shipping and to help my odds ... and it worked. Twice.

You can keep reading to see the details ... and one ball in action.

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This month's Collecting Game-used item a gamer for sure, but I can't put it in the player's hands to prove it. That's actually way more common than you might think today even if we live in a world of holographic authentication stickers on nearly everything.

After going 3-for-3 for exact photo matches within this series, this one is still a solid hit -- it's a fully prepped and lightly used gamer. What do I mean? If you haven't followed this series, from time to time I grab game-used baseball bats for the retired player I collect, Nick Swisher, and I've been able to photo-match nearly all of them. Here's last time, here's part two and here's the first one. They are all bats that cost me less than this Sam Bat ... but I had to have it.

Why? Because it's a deluxe brand -- it's one that cost me more compared to others -- but it was worth it ... and it turns out this bat might be a lot rarer than others I own.

Keep reading to see the details this time.

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The life of this fully authenticated game-used MLB ball isn't all that impressive -- I liked it for a team clearance $10 pick-up, though given player names attached -- but the reason you see it here for this month's Collecting Game-used series item is that it's an example of how something launched online last fall might spark more interest in game-used memorabilia.

Thanks to the MLB Film Room, you can find countless memorable (and many forgettable) video clips of plays from past games all in database form. You can search by names, players, teams, plays, etc., and to a degree that should add some interest to game-used pieces like this ball ... and maybe some value beyond the authentication statements that are also in a database with every ball.

You can keep reading to see the details ... and the ball in action.

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This month's Collecting Game-used item is really just a tip ... a reminder to watch out for postseason offers from teams that need to get rid of stuff that has piled up over the last year.

Fire-sale Season for MLB teams is all about stuff that's left over for them ... knowing that another season's worth of game-used items will be showing up before you know it -- and even they don't have unlimited amounts of space (or maybe patience) for used equipment to pile up.

The ball you see above? Yes, it's oddly pearl white -- clearly not prepped and rubbed-down for game use -- and it's got a shockingly neon green color on it, too. Meanwhile, green is something I didn't have to cough up to get this particular ball into my hands.

It was a freebie, a throw-in -- a batting practice home run ball -- with the purchase of a dozen game-used balls via Phillies Authentics. It's fully authenticated just like the baker's dozen of baseballs I grabbed for just $10 a ball. Shipped. And it wasn't even a mystery box situation, either -- I'm a sucker for those -- as I got to pick my dozen off a list.

The only mystery was whose name was attached to this one.

You can keep reading to see the details ...

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I'm now 3-for-3 in this game within the Collecting Game-used series.

What am I talking about? Picking off game-used baseball bats for the retired player I collect, Nick Swisher, and in this case it's another 100-percent game-used and photo-matched piece -- but one without an MLB Authentication sticker. (Here's last time and here's the first one.)

How was this possible? Just like last time -- with research and some luck while knowing what to look for with game-used bats. I actually picked up this bat with zero idea of when it might have been used -- all I knew about it and the reason why I wanted it was that it was from 2015 when he was on the Braves. In general, this should be his rarest pro gamer -- 46 games in 2015 and then 17 spring games in 2016 -- compared to four years in Oakland, a full season in Chicago, four in New York Yankees pinstripes and then two and a half in Cleveland. Why does this matter to me? Well, thanks to this pick-up, I finally can say I have gamers from each of his pro teams and close to a full rundown of his models of bats he used. (Not all but close.)

This bat is another reminder that not every item that gets used gets an MLB Authentication sticker -- and that you can find gems for any player.

You can keep reading to see the details this time.

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I'm a sucker for a mystery grab bag on a lot of fronts and this one, well, is one of those results that has a story ... or really a bit of an anecdote behind it with a team you might have heard a lot about lately.

It's a ball with not one, not two but three authentication stickers taking over one panel -- and not all that aesthetically -- but that's because it started out as a Steiner Sports acquisition from a team and then when Fanatics bought out and took over Steiner then it stickered it up, too. (Ironically neither of those codes works ... it's no big deal and I chuckled.)

Meanwhile, the MLB Authentication sticker is the one that matters the most ... and this time it definitely revealed something of note. Sorta.

Well, you can keep reading to see the details ...

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Normally with items I've collected for this Collecting Game-used series what you see above is an image of an item in use with definitive photo-matched proof that the item I've found was in Player X's hands on X date.

In this case? Well, this 2014 Topps Alex Avila card shows him with a bat that could be the one I have ... or it may not be. There's no definitive proof here, but the start of the wear and tear on the top of the bat -- cropped off on the card -- that can be seen on this card's original photo taken by MLB Photos' Mark Cunningham on Aug. 3, 2013, in Detroit could be the start of things.

Why do I say could? Like many of Avila's sticks, my bat got used and abused. Like really used and abused. I'm not sure what his routines are or whether his best bats got used for all aspects of play (games and BP) but the bat I landed earlier this year was absolutely mashed -- and it's unlike any I have ever seen in person or have in my stash. It's also a bat that could have survived the off-season, too, based on images I have examined from July 30, 2013, and forward. Why do I say that? Well, that's this merely this bat's born-on factory date.

Keep reading to see the details in this month's CGU piece.

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I'm 2-for-2 this season ... and my hit streak isn't over. There will be more.

What am I talking about? Picking off game-used baseball bats for the retired player I collect, Nick Swisher -- and in this case it's another 100-percent game-used and photo-matched piece ... but one without an MLB Authentication sticker. (Here's last time if you missed it.)

How was this possible? Some research and some luck -- but also knowing what things to look for with game-used bats. In this case, the bat model is somewhat common (used in his Yankees and then Indians years after Louisville Sluggers for most of his career before that) but the handle customizations were not the norm for most of his career. The grip was the first clue when trying to lock down a timeframe of when this bat was used and then a date written underneath the "33" sticker on the bat knob once in hand provided a starting point for still-image searches. Once I found those, then I went to video for additional ironclad matching.

This bat is another reminder that not every item that gets used gets a sticker -- and that's where you can find gems for any player.

You can keep reading to see the details this time.

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This ongoing Collecting Game-used series is one that typically is all about a notable name or an item exactly photo-matched as it was caught in action. This time? It's a little bit of that second one but really with a little more dumb luck involved.

Buzz is on a mailing list for Philadelphia Phillies gamers that include spreadsheets and info on everything the team has up for grabs -- the better the name, the higher the price at most times (especially on the home team) -- and I use their listings to scout opposing players that they can often under-price. Meanwhile, elsewhere out there there are also mystery-bag scenarios for the Phillies where you can pick the date and get a ball (drop-shipped direct from the team) from that game ... but without the choice of which exact ball you get.

This time? I went the mystery route -- a cheaper route -- but after scouting a list where nearly every name out of nearly a dozen was a strong one (a young player with higher-value potential). What happened? Well, I got perhaps one of the worst pairings about who used the ball from that day ... but it was for a super-unique play with super-slow-mo details visible on the Interwebs. So, Phillies picker, while I didn't get a name I wanted ... I salute your selection.

You can keep reading to see the details ... and the ball in action.

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This zoomed-in crop of a publicly available Getty Images preview photo taken by Lisa Blumenfeld shows four spots of wear that can all be seen on this Nick Swisher game-used SSK bat from 2012 that Buzz owns today.

Most of the time, your safest way to pick up a piece of game-used memorabilia from Major League Baseball action is to look for the sticker.

You know, the MLB Authentication sticker that has a code to tell you exactly when and where an item was used -- an ironclad way to know something is legit as it's stickered immediately after an item is pulled from play. But there are limitations to collecting game-used memorabilia.

Not every item that gets used gets a sticker -- and that's where you can find gems.

If you can take that risk and do the research, you can find an item that's better than stickered -- you can find pieces if you know how to photo-match. Not every item can be matched every time for sure, but that's part of the fun of collecting -- the hunt for the items and the hunt for images to show that they are, indeed, 110-percent legit.

You can keep reading to see the details this time.

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The future of Minor League Baseball is a cloudy one with this season in doubt or if not done before it ever starts, hundreds of players cut in recent weeks to pare everything down and the constant worry of the number of teams shrinking as MLB struggles with what to do amidst everything that has come with the COVID-19 pandemic.

But the creativity of MiLB and in particular its fun promotional nights can't be topped -- and both of those things got me looking for something different for my collection and for this regularly appearing department here on The Buzz. This piece presented itself with a nod to pop culture for a price that, well, can't easily be beat at the big-league level for game-used material ... so, it had to be had.

This specialty jersey you're about to learn about came directly from the Daytona Tortugas, the Class-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds, and was used last season. It's a one-of-a-kind jersey as the team wore them just once last year as "the best-dressed team in baseball" donned different specialty jerseys for each of their Friday night home games last year.

You can keep reading to see the gamer and details.

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