Atlanta Braves podcast S2E30: a specially authenticated edition

The Atlanta Braves have created a lot of milestone moments already in 2021.  Some of the momentoes related to these events find their way into the hands of fans.  But how?

There are a lot of people and a lot of tasks that get done behind the scenes to bring together what we see as an Atlanta Braves baseball game.

A lot of these things we don’t see — or even think about… they just happen because teams know that there are things that serious fans will expect as part of a “full service” operation.

One of these tasks surrounds each team’s retail operations:  a full-on department that is responsible for authenticating every piece of game-used gear that could end up into a fan’s (or collector’s) hands… and it all starts at the MLB-level:

"“We’re here to save history,” said Michael Posner, MLB director of authentication. “This is something the league will look at 50 years from now and be able to say, ‘Thank goodness we had a process to record it all, because now we know where everything is and there is no question. “"

Why is this done?  Two reasons, really:  the first is about money, for the fans want to know that things they buy are real.  The second is about fraud, because when there’s money involved, there will be bad actors who try to exploit the public.

Today we have a special edition podcast for you:  our Kyle Walter sat down the head Authenticator for the Miami Marlins to discuss his job and to give up some stories about some of the things he’s seen in the process of keeping “eyes-on” the gear he’s charged with tracking.

There’s some fascinating stuff in here:  while it’s certainly not our normal fare, Kyle is asking all the questions you’d want to hear the answers to about the whole MLB authentication process from his point of view.

There’s some things happening about it that I wouldn’t have guessed… and there’s an Atlanta Braves story involved, too!

So here’s the story in audio…. starting with the links:

• The direct download link is here
• The podcast has already been posted to most subscription sites (Season 2, Episode 30)
• The inline player is right here, too:

Thanks for checking this out… I think you’ll find it very informative and interesting.  It’s not about the playoffs, but it could ultimately involve something you might buy in the future!