Buzz Break: Cardinals Authentics game-used ball mystery box

From time to time, Buzz will break a box of something and post the results here. Like this and want to see more? Or maybe there's a box you'd want to see busted? Send Buzz an email at BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com.

The box: St. Louis Cardinals Authentics game-used baseball mystery box
The cost: $39.99 (via MLB.com)

What's inside this box? Keep reading ...

Autographs/Memorabilia: 1
Game-used ball (MLB Authenticated): Chicago Cubs vs. St. Louis Cardinals - June 15, 2018 (yes, last week)

The matchup: Cubs SP Jon Lester vs. Cardinals OF Tommy Pham
The result: Groundout during fourth inning (fielded by SS Addison Russell to 1B Anthony Rizzo)

What's Buzz-worthy: MLB.com had a one-day (25-percent off that price above) flash sale earlier this week, so this baseball -- from just last week -- made its way into my hands less than seven days after it was used at Busch Stadium in a 13-5 Cubs blowout. That was the game where Kris Bryant finally ended his homerless streak by hitting his ninth this season and Kyle Schwarber demolished another for a three-run shot. This ball? A ground ball from a guy on pace for a career year with the longball but not all that flashy card-wise. That rout is what drew me to picking this particular date among the options -- the mystery balls for this team allow you to pick a date and then you get what's available -- I had figured there might be a lot of baseballs going around with Cubs getting a little less love since these were coming straight from the team in St. Louis. I wasn't able to find a photo from this play but you can see that this one was a one-pitch ball as part of just a three-pitch at-bat -- an 85.5 mph change-up from Lester. (He's a three-time World Series champ and a key for the 2016 Cubs championship team so that's a plus with this ball.) A gif of the play has been added below just for fun -- the ball went around the horn after the out and Lester took it out of play after that. It was apparently a moist evening in St. Louis as the ball has a nice splash of red clay across the back panel, which also is a plus -- and probably why Lester punted it. Added trivia: The batter just after Pham, Marcell Ozuna, homered on the first pitch thrown after this one. Meanwhile, Lester got the win in this game, the 167th of his career, while Bryant's homer was his 109th and Schwarber's was his 58th. Meanwhile, Pham, my guy here, hit his 10th homer of the year (47th career) later in the game.

Product Grade: A
Box Grade: A-
Fun Grade: A-

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