Marked balls
Some teams mark their balls on the sweet spot so their employees (and players) won't steal them and get them signed. I used to think these balls were ugly, but I've grown to love them.
Astros
The Houston Astros used to guard their precious balls, so I made sure to flaunt one in my New York Times photo.
Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates had the decency to mark this ball neatly.
Giants, Part 1
The San Francisco Giants, on the other hand, didn’t give a damn.
Marlins
Same for the Florida Marlins (as they were called in the 1990s when I got this).
Mets
The New York Mets REALLY wanted to keep track of all their balls in the mid-1990s. See the one in the middle? Never get a ball signed with a Sharpie (or any other magic marker) or it might "bleed" and end up looking like this.
Cubs
Some teams stamp their balls. This one belonged to the Chicago Cubs.
Padres
Same deal. Some dude stamped dis spherical delight.
Braves
Why did the Atlanta Braves use an X? I don't know. All I can tell you is that this is my 1,000th ball, which I snagged on 6/11/96 at Shea Stadium.
Royals
Key Component Review? Kowloon Canton Railway? Kenya Cancer Registry? Oh, no, wait . . . Kansas City Royals!
Red Sox, Part 1
The Red Sox used these in BP for a few years.
Devil Rays
Got two of these when the Tampa Bay Devil Rays played at Shea Stadium on June 8, 1998.
Dodgers, Part 1
At one point, the Los Angeles Dodgers used a fancy stamp . . .
Dodgers, Part 2
. . . and then they became just like everyone else.
Brewers, Part 1
Ditto for the Milwaukee Brewers. I caught this ball at some point in the 1990s . . .
Brewers, Part 2
. . . and I snagged this one on June 11, 2003 at Miller Park. I even know that it was my 2nd of 17 balls that day. How? Because I started labeling them after ball No. 2,000. The Brewers drew the line. I wrote the "2025" and typed all the details into my laptop.
Reds
This came from Cincinnati Reds shortstop Barry Larkin.
Mystery writing
I have no idea what the writing means. It was already there when Colorado Rockies pitcher Scott Dohmann threw me the ball on 9/29/05 at Shea Stadium.
Accidental autograph, Part 1
More Rockies weirdness the next day: this ball was already signed by shortstop Omar Quintanilla when he tossed it to me.
Sign at the "X"
Someone on the Mets apparently made a joke about autograph collectors by drawing an "X" and a blank line on the sweet spot. I got this ball on 9/7/07 at Shea Stadium.
Brewers, Part 3
Uhh, random? I snagged these four at Miller Park in 2009, mostly at this game.
Dodgers, Part 3
In 2009 the Dodgers used practice balls with two different stamps, and I got them both at Coors Field on August 25th. This was the first . . .
Dodgers, Part 4
. . . and this was the second. "WIN" stands for a charity called Women's Initiatives Network.
Tigers
Yeesh. I got this one on 5/4/10 at Target Field.
Indians
If you snagged one of these specially-marked balls during batting practice at Progressive Field in 2011, you received a discount on gasoline. I got this one on August 22nd.
Accidental autograph, Part 2
When the Cardinals wrapped up batting practice on 6/1/12 at Citi Field, hitting coach Mark McGwire walked off the field with three baseballs in his left hand and a pen in his right. He signed all three and *then* tossed them into the crowd. This was the first of those balls, and by the way, this was the day that Johan Santana pitched the first no-hitter in Mets history.
The game on 7/13/12 at Yankee Stadium happened to be "Social Media Night," and this was the result. #niiiiiiiiiice
Red Sox, Part 2
The Sox used these balls during BP in 2015. I'm not sure what the check mark is supposed to mean, but I like it. By the way, I got my first three of these balls on 4/10/15 at Yankee Stadium (and also caught a David Ortiz home run in the 19th inning).
Red Sox, Part 3
The Sox stamped their baseballs with the word “COPY” from 2016-2018. (Umm, okay.)
Giants, Part 2
Classy! And FYI, this was an infield warm-up ball that I got during the game on 6/26/18 at AT&T Park.
Red Sox, Part 4
Say hello to the 2019 batch of Red Sox balls. The stamp says “OK” — no clue why. This was one of 15 baseballs that I got on June 2nd at Yankee Stadium including 10 home runs that I caught on the fly during batting practice! Check out the video. It’s certifiably nuts.
Accidental autograph, Part 3
During batting practice on 5/12/21 at Fenway Park, Athletics pitcher Sergio Romo signed a bunch of balls before throwing them into the crowd. He gave me this one by placing it on the warning track and making me earn it by using my cup trick.
Don’t Worry, Be Happy
Here’s another Tigers baseball — much better than the other one.
SeatGeek
On July 13, 2022, I had brunch with Orioles bullpen catcher Ben Carhart before his team played the Cubs at Wrigley Field. I told him I was going to film a promo for SeatGeek in my video, so he wrote this on the ball and chucked it to me during batting practice. Ha!
Accidental autograph, Part 4
I love two-way players, and this ball came from a lesser-hyped guy who can do it all — Tigers All-Star pitcher Michael Lorenzen who had already signed this before he tossed it to me on 7/25/23 at Comerica Park.