Albert Pujols already has 698 home runs and less and less to reach the historical figure of the 700 home runsmoment that would place him as the fourth player of Big leagues to connect that amount of career home runs.
This is why the Major League Baseball (MLB) will introduce individually and sequentially marked balls to be used only for their at-bats, one of the league officials told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
These special balls ensure that if the home run fades into the crowd at Busch Stadium or elsewhere, it can forever be identified as the true creator of history.
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“The biggest milestone the sport has ever seen,” said Michael Posner, senior director of authentication and memorabilia for Major League Baseball. “It’s not about putting value on something. This is a part of history that we will never forget. Authentication is about capturing that moment and recording it and 100% certainty that we know this is the ball.”
The moment Albert Pujols hits number 699, individually marked balls will be put into play for each and every pitch he sees up to 700.
Las balls will have a “visible mark” that identifies the sequence in which they will be used. The umpires, who are given the balls at the start of each at-bat, will use that number to put the balls into play, in order. Each ball will also have a mark invisible to the naked eye that can only be revealed by proprietary technology, and only two people will know precisely where that mark is on each ball, Posner said.
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The league will also soon begin using similar, individually marked balls for the U.S. slugger. Yankees, Aaron Judgeas he nears the record of 61 home runs in a single season of Roger Maris in the American League.
Each game has been assigned two authenticators, each with law enforcement experience, and when Albert hills gets closer to 700, a third authenticator will be in the ballpark assigned to all of Albert’s stuff. That means there will be an official there to authenticate the bat, the jersey, the shoes, anything Albert Pujols wants traced or chooses to donate to the Baseball Hall of Fame or the Cardinals Hall of Fame. They will also authenticate the bases, the lineup card and even the dirt on the ground and the time of the significant home run.
This is the same process as MLB used to track Miguel Cabrera’s 3,000th hit and 500th home run and has also been used for iconic players’ final games in case the last swing produced a ball out of sight of authenticators.
In the last two decades, Major League Baseball has expanded and modernized its ability to authenticate used gaming items as a way to protect against fraud and maintain a reliable record of provenance for important parts.
If a fan catches the 700th home run ball and chooses to keep it, MLB officials will authenticate the ball on site for that fan and return it to them.
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Posner said his policy is to be “agnostic” about possession.
“This is a place that has to do with its history; and you know that in San Luis, where they talk about Musial Booth y Ozzie Smith how will they talk about Albert hills y Nolan ArenadoPosner said. “Knowing where the balls are is important for us, for the game. We all know Kirk Gibson’s home run and the mythology of where it is. It is important for us to know that this is the ball that made history and where it is”.
