Collecting Game-used: The life of an Atlanta Braves baseball

Not all game-used baseballs are the same, despite the fact that they're all a pair of leather panels with 108 stitches holding it all together.

Some are hits or other big plays -- others are beanballs -- but many are fouled off or even semi-meaningless pitches in the dirt that quickly get discarded from play in favor for a cleaner ball that won't act erratically when they fly due to foreign substances.

The ball you see here? It was used for less than two minutes two summers ago by emerging Atlanta Braves star Mike Foltynewicz, who'll make his MLB debut for this season this weekend. This ball was used for just under two minutes -- just five pitches -- before it ended up in a Fanatics game-used ball mystery box.

You can keep reading to see the details ...

THE BASICS ...
Game-used baseball (MLB Authenticated): Atlanta Braves vs. Philadelphia Phillies, July 31, 2017
Watch it in action: Right here from 42:32 to 44:29.

The matchup: Braves SP Mike Foltynewicz vs. Phillies LF Hyun-soo Kim and C Andrew Knapp
The result: A ball to finish off a walk to Kim, four pitches (two balls, two strikes) to Knapp -- the last being a curveball in the dirt.

What's Buzz-worthy: I landed this one for the price of two blaster boxes and it was a nice surprise as Folty has been a key arm for a team on the rise of late, though injury has delayed the start to his season this year. He was an All-Star last season and a 13-game winner with a 2.85 ERA and 202 strikeouts in 183 innings. In the season this one was used, he went 10-13. This particular game ended with a 7-6 Phillies win as Folty went just four innings, striking out three and walking three. This ball was used for pitches 35 to 39 in the game, while the walk was his 40th of the season and 111th of his career. It's not all that notable in the big scheme of things, but with the High-Def world we live in you can watch the entire life of the ball in the video linked above. I didn't find any exact photo-matches among still photography, but the video is a nice find and helps make it a decent ball and pull for a mystery box. It's also cool that I was able to add a second player beyond who's noted in the authentication -- that's from when it was merely taken out of play, excluding when it started with Hyun-soo Kim. The ball also was handed by Braves catcher Kurt Suzuki.

Product Grade: A
Box Grade: A (not all boxes will include All-Stars)
Fun Grade: A

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

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