Sosa's " race to 600" g-u balls

[coxfan]

Did anyone else get one of the game-used balls marked "Sammy Sosa Race to 600"? These balls were taken from Sosa's plate appearances in 2007 leading up to his 600th HR. I bought one marked with a black marker " 160 S" from the Rangers' stadium store last August. Its MLB hologram # BB555458 gave it a 2cd-inning single on 6-9-07. MLB.com " gameday" gives the further info that it was a 1st-pitch fastball off Ben Sheets to lead off the 2cd.

I researched and found that Sosa's " race to 600" balls #'d 132-160 were all in the MLB hologram sequence BB 555411-67, which included other g-u items from the Ranger games of 6-5 through 6-9-07. But the later Sosa balls, leading up to his 600th HR on 6-20, were evidently in some other hologram sequence so I can't trace them. They go at least as high as "203 S" from what I've seen on the internet, but I can't find the MLB holograms for numbers higher than my "160 S".

I'm interested because tracing the MLB hologranm sequence gives insights into how the MLB authenticators operate these days. What I've learned so far in that respect is interesting regarding such things as how individuals select balls to authenticate and how accurately they input the data, etc, but I'd like to trace a few more of the Sosa balls.

So if anyone has one of the Sosa " race to 600" balls I'd like to know: Its MLB hologram #, and whether the black marker indication on the ball was damaged ( as if in hit by the bat), which might tell me if it was marked before being thrown into play. Thanks.

[joelsabi]

Re: Sosa's " race to 600" g-u balls

fyi there are 3 of these balls that close today on mlb auctions.

[coxfan]

Re: Sosa's " race to 600" g-u balls

Thanks. But I'm not used to MLB auctions ( everything I've bought has been in person, mostly at stadiums) and I've searched MLB auctions this morning with no success. Nothing's coming up for me except dozens of old Expos' balls and other things I'm not looking for. I did find three of the Sosa balls ( including # 200 and 203) on a "google" search yesterday, but for some reason the same "google" search today isn't bringing them up. So any help I could get on locating these items online would be much appreciated.

[joelsabi]

Re: Sosa's " race to 600" g-u balls

Thanks. But I'm not used to MLB auctions ( everything I've bought has been in person, mostly at stadiums) and I've searched MLB auctions this morning with no success. Nothing's coming up for me except dozens of old Expos' balls and other things I'm not looking for. I did find three of the Sosa balls ( including # 200 and 203) on a "google" search yesterday, but for some reason the same "google" search today isn't bringing them up. So any help I could get on locating these items online would be much appreciated.

yeah after the auction is done i think they take the listing off their website. hard to find unless you saved it on your wantlist.

[joelsabi]

Re: Sosa's " race to 600" g-u balls

http://209.85.173.132/search?q=cache:XDGZyBsH-vQJ:auction.mlb.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay%3Fprrfnbr%3D102625146%26prmenbr%3D33072944%26aunbr%3D102971856+sammy+sosa+%22game+used%22+600+baseball&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us

[coxfan]

Re: Sosa's " race to 600" g-u balls

Thanks! Wish I could see the MLB hologram #.

[joelsabi]

Re: Sosa's " race to 600" g-u balls

Thanks! Wish I could see the MLB hologram #.

i did some guesstimation based on them hologram number being sequentially dated and found these BB557211-215. not sure exactly what you are doing but if you skip every 10 numbers you probably find others groups of chase balls. i used BB prefix. its possible also that other authenticator with different abbreviation did some as well.

[coxfan]

Re: Sosa's " race to 600" g-u balls

Thanks again! You've been extremely helpful. What I'm doing is using the Sosa "chase" sequence to try to infer insights into how MLB authenticators operate. That's a question that folks ask from time to time here, but definite information is hard to come by. For example, the lower-numbered Sosa balls you brought to my attention are very non-specific, with no info on the hologram on the ball's history except a game date. But by the time #132 was reached, the specific action by Sosa, & the inning in which it occurred had been added. But even then authentication technique varies from game to game. In going through the 132-160 sequence I've gotten some sense of how accurate they are ( for example, one obvious input error occurred, with the wrong inning.)

The problem is that they seem to change hologram sequences arbitrarily, so it's easy to lose the trail. But it's an interesting challenge.