Alex Rodriguez Marked Ball

[Popinjaysnamesir]

http://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/222011599850

I have a ball marked from Thome that I purchased directly from MLB. The mark is stamped. This appears handwritten. Picture also seems to show the authentication sticker worn off.

Anyone else here have a marked ball from this event that can confirm the lettering is different from the usual?

[yanks12025]

Probably depends on the team, I've seen other hand written ones for Yankee baseballs.

[Popinjaysnamesir]

I reached out to MLB and found out...

1) All of the balls marked for HR chases are handwritten. The only ones I had previously seen were so perfect I thought they were stamped. Interesting to know.

2) You can send authenticated balls to MLB to have the sticker replaced. I don't know what the process involves on their side, but it was pretty easy on my end.

I'm not a big ARod fan, but an interesting piece to add to the collection.

[ballhawknet]

I forgot how to post photos but no , balls were not marked by hand .
Balls were stamped and the ink was as permanent as the rest of the
printing on a major league ball . Dozens of balls were made for each
milestone so i can not imagine a case where they would need to create
a new ball by simply writing on it . They also had a dna marker which
was also used as an identifier . I saw an auction on mears which had
a ball with numbers on it only visible under black light ... however those
are standard on every major league ball and not special to these home
run milestone baseballs .

Also if you notice photos of these baseballs they are not stamped
evenly . The initial at the top of logo is perfectly centered but the numbers below ( double digit baseballs ) are off with one being higher or lower .

This would not be the case if they were to simply write on the ball.

As for this auction item with the hologram number wiped clear ? Thats
all kind of weird .. how does that even happen ?

[Popinjaysnamesir]

Attached is my Thome ball purchased directly from MLB. From owning this, and seeing the Ortiz marked ball, I thought they were stamped.

[Popinjaysnamesir]

Here is the Alex marked ball that was authenticated. It was sent back to MLB who evaluated it and issued it a new authentication sticker. My post is per a conversation with Jon Cline. His name is on the box your Thome ball shipped in.

Both balls are from 2007.

[Popinjaysnamesir]

Here is a differently stamped ball for Alex owned by Steiner and available on eBay. It's not authenticated though, but posted for full disclosure. It's back to looking stamped.

Anyone can email the MLB authentication service and ask the same questions themselves.

[yanks12025]

These markings look hard written.

[Popinjaysnamesir]

"My post is per a conversation with Jon Cline. His name is on the box your Thome ball shipped in."

Should read "the" and not "your." I don't see an option to edit the post.

[tigerdale]

Here is a Sosa one...