Collecting Game-used: A mystery bonus is a piece of 2020

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 ...

No, it's not this ball ... but it is an Alec Bohm BP home run ball. Get the details below.

THE BASICS ...
Batting practice home run ball (MLB Authenticated): Alec Bohm -- Atlanta Braves at Philadelphia Phillies, Aug. 30, 2020
Watch it in action: Not this time ... but the game recap is worth a look

What's Buzz-worthy: Bohm actually didn't play after taking BP for this Sunday game, which was a slugfest that included six homers and 22 runs as part of a 12-10 Braves win. But this ball is still pretty cool as it's from his first month as a big-leaguer and he had a solid debut season. Bohm had four homers and 23 RBI in 44 games where he hit .338 -- no other Phillies player even hit .300 this year with any meaningful number of at-bats -- and he was tied for second in the National League Rookie of the Year vote. This ball came from the days following the Phillies' protested game after the Jacob Blake shooting and for extra interesting trivia it also was a game where the players wore No. 42 jerseys in honor of Jackie Robinson. (The Bohm photo from the Topps Now card is from Aug. 28 when they all wore 42s and you can see them in No. 42s in the video above.) The green on this ball -- two sides -- seems a little un-natural, so maybe it came off the wall or caromed somewhere out in the stands of Citizens Bank Park and back onto the field to add that hint of dirt. Or, maybe it got a good piece of some cardboard cutouts in the stands and picked up some ink? We'll never know. I'm not sure how many batting practice home run balls have been hit through the years to be authenticated by MLB -- that might be the most 2020 thing of all here.

So what's the deal with these balls? Earlier this year, the Phillies offered authenticated BP home run balls for a mix of favorite Phillies and other stars -- Rhys Hoskins, J.T. Realmuto, Andrew McCutchen, Didi Gregorius, Bryce Harper, Bohm, Aaron Judge, Ronald Acuña, Jr., Pete Alonso, Robinson Cano or Bo Bichette. Initially they were sold blindly for $75 a pop but if you bought a dozen game-used balls in their sale this month then you got one as a blindly selected bonus. I cherry-picked the list for a dozen cheap balls ($10 each) with good names attached and then with hopes for maybe landing a Bichette, Harper, Judge or Acuña ... but this one is pretty solid. (Don't be surprised if you see a few Phillies balls here in the coming months ... I promise I'll make them interesting.)

>> See all past Collecting Game-used stories from Buzz here

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