Bryan Lavastida

  • Collecting Game-used: Fresh Lava from down on the farm

    Sometimes, unraveling the mystery is part of the fun with gamers ... and that mystery part doesn't happen as often with MLB stuff where it's almost as if everything that's used on a field or during a game can get an MLB Authentication sticker and have a place in a database forever before it hits a collection or gets chopped up to live inside a baseball card.

    But down on the farm before they are big-leaguers? It can be a different story. Sure, stuff gets documented and auctioned/sold with a team letter or certificate quite often -- especially at the end of a season when the players are gone (and might not come back next year) -- but not everything. Baseballs? Nope. Caps? Not often. Helmets? Sometimes. Buzz did some on-the-cheap power-shopping in recent months and landed a few game-used caps from MiLB action and this first one is from the Columbus Clippers, the Triple-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians.

    Most of my items in this Collecting Game-used series are MLB or other things that are ironclad in their documentation or I have been able to photo-match the item exactly to a photo, video or event. This time? Not so much, but it did have some features and some mystery that worked out for a bargain price -- cheaper than some packs of cards out in the retail wild -- and it turned out to be a player who got a taste of the major leagues in 2022, too.

    Keep reading to see the details this time.

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1 Item(s)