Collecting Game-used: More plays than its mud might show

A name I didn't expect to see again in MLB arrived in Atlanta this month and that got me thinking about a stash of game-used baseballs I had picked up on the cheap long ago but hadn't yet posted about in this Collecting Game-used series.

I did some digging and, yep, that name was in there.

Robinson Cano is filling in at second base for the Braves right now after Ozzie Albies' foot injury has him out until optimistically late next month and he's that name. My find is nothing dramatic but it's a ball from a past game with him attached that was deep in my $10 stash -- yep, only $10 -- from awhile back, and it turned out it's a ball with a little surprise to it thanks to its MLB Authentication and clips one can see right now on the MLB Film Room.

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

THE BASICS ...
Game-used ball (MLB Authenticated): New York Mets vs. Philadelphia Phillies -- June 25, 2019
Watch it in action: Right here (Pitch 1), right here (Pitch 2), right here (Pitch 3) and right here (Pitch 4)

The matchup: Mets 2B Robinson Cano vs. Phillies RP Adam Morgan
The result: Four-pitch sequence in seventh inning of a 7-5 Phillies win

What's Buzz-worthy: I picked this one up since Cano is a past star (a good name on a $10 ball) but more since Morgan is a player with school ties for me -- so I'll try to find something for those guys on cards that's autographed or game-used and then maybe something on the game-used memorabilia front. Since this one was a cheap find via the Phillies, I grabbed it and one other for Morgan among about a dozen balls. Cano's 2019 season was in essence his last full campaign as a big-leaguer with his 107 games played much higher than other years around it -- and he was suspended in late 2020 for all of last year for a second failed performance-enhancing drug test. He was released this year by the Mets, picked up and then released by the Padres and then signed with their Triple-A team with the best mascot in MiLB, the El Paso Chihuahuas. After Albies' injury the Braves traded for him and he's hitting .222 in five games so far. In this 2019 game, Cano went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. (This plate appearance ended up being a walk.) The surprise here once I checked the authentication? This ball was used for four pitches, not the typical one or two -- a ball, a called strike, a ball and a ball in the dirt (see the chart in gallery and videos above) and it was that pitch that took it out of play. You can even see the ump chuck it out of play toward the authenticator where it got its silver sticker. As for milestones, this was Morgan's 14th hold of the year and 34th of his career, while players who homered in the game included Amed Rosario, Dominic Smith, Maikel Franco, Brad Miller, Scott Kingery and Rhys Hoskins. None of those longballs are tied to this ball, of course, but it's from those games where a player collector might find them of mild interest (probably most for Hoskins, 70th of his career). Aesthetically, the mud on this one gives it a nice look and some other slight markings and its overall color makes it a nice ball for the price and names attached. A lot of baseballs can be far more mundane than this and cost a lot more ... so that and the school ties made this one a win to me.

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

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