Collecting Game-used: A base hit in support of Paul Skenes

It's not from The Big Guy, but it's not a bad baseball for the price ... and I've actually pulled this move off twice.

This month's ball in the Collecting Game-used series is another that came to me via a grab bag where all I knew was the date of the game. The baseballs from this game that were thrown by the reigning National League Rookie Of The Year (and future Cy Young winner) Paul Skenes command a big premium price over the rest of baseballs from this day, so I knew I wouldn't land one with his name attached. But ... I didn't get some meaningless ball in the dirt as this one was a hit in support of the phenom and part of a pretty solid day for the batter.

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

THE BASICS ...
Game-used ball (MLB Authenticated): Arizona Diamondbacks at Pittsburgh Pirates -- Aug. 4, 2024
Watch it in action: Four pitches -- see the first three via the MLB Film Room here -- and the one that made contact is embedded below.

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The matchup: Diamondbacks SP Ryne Nelson vs. Pirates C Yasmani Grandal in the fourth inning of a 6-5 Arizona victory.
The results: Three no-contact pitches before a single as part of a 3-for-4 day for the veteran catcher.

What's Buzz-worthy: Just like last time when I had a ball from this game, this was the 14th career start for Skenes and it included four Ks, three walks and five innings but no W. (Nothing's changed there. It all still happened.) This ball? Well, it's a win at $29.99 (even less, really, if I do the discount math across three items in my order) vs. roughly $499.99 for one Skenes touched ... even if it was merely a lesser ball watched by a batter or bounced the dirt. This ball was a single and it was his second hit of the day -- No. 956 for his career, which began back in 2012 as a San Diego Padre. (Skenes had just turned 10 years old three days before Grandal's debut.) For a grab bag, that'll work as a lot of teams can and will charge 2-3X that for a hit ball (non-foul) -- if not more -- depending on the player.

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

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