MLB Baseball Authentication Program

By Shira Springer from The Boston Globe October 22, 2008

Once the first inning of every playoff game ends, Major League Baseball's authentication program goes into effect. During Game 5 of the American League Championship Series at Fenway Park, groundskeepers rushed onto the field and replaced the bases. MLB authenticator and 37-year Boston police veteran Jim Carr waited for the bases in Canvas Alley, the field-level walkway with direct access to the diamond.

Carr laid the bases in a row and tagged each one with a specially designed hologram. He repeated the process after the second inning, then carted the two sets of authenticated bases to a closet deep beneath the ballpark.

The closet contains a treasure trove of memorabilia, everything from bases to balls to lineup cards to broken bats to the Korbel champagne bottles popped when the Red Sox clinched the American League Division Series. Every piece of memorabilia is registered as authentic in an MLB database by the coded hologram that disintegrates when removed, preventing the transfer from one piece to another.