Q: Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter reached a significant milestone with his 3,000th hit, which was a home run. How could the man who caught that ball have had it authenticated in case he had wanted to sell it to the highest bidder?
-- William McKee Jr., Flowery Branch
A: In this case, there was video evidence of Christian Lopez coming up with Jeter's 3,000th hit, a home run to left field at Yankee Stadium, but Major League Baseball has been using specially marked baseballs for milestone hits for years. MLB made 48 special balls to be used during Jeter's at-bats after he had his 2,999th hit, according to mlb.com. The balls were "marked sequentially with the numbers 1 through 48, in black under the MLB logo," and also had a "covert marking needed for final proof." When Lopez came up with the ball, he was surrounded by team security, escorted to a private room, and the ball was examined by a MLB authenticator, who, according to protocol, recorded the marks to determine if it was the correct ball. Then, he would have placed a numbered tamper-proof hologram on the item, according to mlb.com. Lopez, a 23-year-old lifelong Yankees fan, decided to give the ball to Jeter. In return, the Yankees gave him four luxury suite tickets for every remaining game this season, including the playoffs, three signed bats, two signed balls and two signed Jeter jerseys, valued at $44,800. The ball used for Jeter's 3,000th hit would have likely sold for between $100,000 and $250,000, according to Bloomberg.com.
Lori Johnston wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or e-mail q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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