Collecting Game-used: Some postseason dirt & an All-Star, too

The MLB postseason is almost here, so I figured now's the time to drop one of a pair of baseballs I recently landed from that beloved time of year right here.

This month's ball in the Collecting Game-used series is the first of two I landed not knowing who would be attached, just knowing that they were from a certain date in the postseason's past with the teams known -- and in this case it's from Aaron Judge's first visit to the postseason but not with his name attached -- but some known stars are in play. (Not bad for a modest price that's less than some brand new boxes out in the retail wild, though.) How did they sit all these years since they're from back in 2017? Well, based on holograms, they were originally in Steiner Sports' hands after going through MLB Authentication and then into Fanatics' possession.

Keep reading to see the details this time ... and the ball in action.

THE BASICS ...
Game-used ball (MLB Authenticated): Cleveland Indians at New York Yankees, American League Division Series Game 4 -- Oct. 9, 2017
Watch it in action: Two pitches via the MLB Film Room below.

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The matchup: Yankees RP Tommy Kahnle vs. Indians OF Jason Kipnis in the eighth inning of a 7-3 Yankees victory.
The results: A called strike and then a ball fouled straight into the dirt in front of home plate to take it out of play.

What's Buzz-worthy: Kipnis is a former All-Star and this game was still clearly not over at this point -- Jonny Gomes was on second and Francisco Lindor on first -- as Kahnle had come into the game after Dellin Betances walked two to open the inning. This ball was used for the first two pitches of what became a Kipnis strikeout and its life in MLB ended with that foul into the dirt ... and plenty of that Yankee Stadium dirt is still seen on the ball to this day. The triple-holograming here is 100-percent un-necessary as the MLB sticker says it all, but the companies that came into possession of this one after that felt it needed branding in their eyes, too. Thankfully that's all on the top panel (as is the norm) away from the logos and all that dirt. ... This win tied the series for the Yankees and they went on to win it in the finale. ... As for this one, the W went to Luis Severino -- his only postseason victory of his career -- while the loss went to Trevor Bauer and Kahnle got the save, which is also the only postseason save of his career. ... Kipnis went 0-fer in the game with three Ks, while Carlos Santana had a homer as part of a two-hit day for the losers. The big rookie, Judge, went 1-for-5 with a double and two RBI to lead the team in what was a spread-out day for the offense. They're not attached to this ball, of course, but how many of those postseason balls are out there available to fans these days? Probably not as many as one might think all these years later. I don't own any Judge game-used items but this would be an easy pick for an autograph if I had that chance since it's from his rookie year. Look for my other ball -- from this same game with a pair of different All-Stars attached -- next month.

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

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