CAM INMAN: TIMES COLUMNIST
Cop makes sure balls are real deal
Contra Costa Times
Contra Costa Times
Article Launched:07/24/2007 03:00:54 AM PDT
SAN FRANCISCO
DEAN MARCIC SAYS his neighbors in Concord don't know what he does for a side job.
Truth is, few are supposed to know what Marcic actually does. Or at least what he does when marking the balls pitched to Barry Bonds during the slugger's pursuit of Hank Aaron's home-run record.
"It's a covert process, very detailed," Marcic said. "The integrity of the program is protected very well."
Covert? Yummy. We're suckers for cloak-and-dagger stuff, or anything to spice up a column off a game -- like Monday night's when Bonds didn't add to his total of 753 career home runs in the Giants' 4-2 loss to Atlanta.
By day, Marcic is an auto-theft investigator for the San Francisco Police Department. By night -- or, at least, on Monday night and throughout Bonds' pursuit of No. 756 -- Marcic is Major League Baseball's chief authenticator.
That means he keeps track of the baseballs Bonds is trying to belt out of the park.
Consider it a witness-protection program for those uniquely marked balls, which are substituted into the game -- four balls at a time, in a specific order -- when Bonds steps to the plate. That practice has been going on since Bonds' hit No. 751 on July 3 at Cincinnati.
Marcic's job is to protect the identity of those balls, those cash cows for souvenir collectors.
"It's a bit of history I never expected to be a part of," Marcic said, "and it's pretty cool."
For the 17-year SFPD veteran, it probably beats tracking down more stolen convertibles -- "Ragtops, people love 'em." -- or 1996 Saturns -- "You can stick a can opener in them and it'll turn the ignition. Don't tell anyone."
Whoops, sorry about that.
Well, Marcic's not about to unveil the uniqueness about, shall we say, the fingerprints he puts on Bonds' baseballs.
"There's not a picture," said Marcic, debunking theories of a hologram depicting Bonds' winking at himself or commissioner Bud Selig thumbing his nose at Bonds. "It's serialized, and there's other ... let's keep it generic and say we can find out which ball is which."
That goes for foul balls, too. So don't try conning your way into a fortune, fans. Umpires are instructed before games as to the order Bonds' baseballs must be inserted into the game. Those balls, by the way, are initially rubbed up by the Giants before Marcic puts his mark on them.
"When we're in the stands, we keep track of which ones went where," said Marcic, who was stationed in center field Monday night while another MLB authenticator was behind home plate with the secret stash of balls. "When a ball's hit out there, I go find it."
That doesn't mean it's his and his cohort's job to determine the rightful owner of said ball. They don't want to get mixed up in any lawsuit like those over Bonds' 700th career home run in 2004 and his record-setting 73rd in 2001.
"We're not saying who has possession," Marcic said. "We'll find the ball. Believe me, we'll find it and authenticate it and give it back to the person it belongs to."
Marcic sure sounds believable when he says he could care less if it's Bonds or anyone else closing in on the record. That impartiality surely helped land him this gig when baseball officials sought outside help from SFPD.
"They had issues with guys getting starstruck. I don't care who it is, really," Marcic said. "They asked if I liked baseball and I told them, 'Not really.'"
Why not?
"It's pretty slow," he said.
So might be this final stretch for Bonds as he closes in on Aaron.
Asked if he thinks Bonds is a heroic hitter or a cheating scumbag, Marcic responded: "I don't think he's a cheating scumbag. He's doing his job."
Still, Marcic isn't about to go ask Bonds for an autograph. He's a Warriors season-ticket holder, and he already has other memorabilia to cherish.
"I've got a Chris Mullin-signed basketball," he said.
Yeah, but is it authenticated?
"It's signed," Marcic replied with a smile. "I can't tell if it's authentic or not."
At least he'll be able to tell the authenticity of the baseballs being pitched to Bonds.
And what if he's the lucky one who catches No. 756?
"I'm outta here," he replied.
About an hour before Monday night's game, it was indeed time for him to get out of the Giants dugout. He headed down the dugout steps and into parts unknown to have a sit-down with Bonds' baseballs.
Said Marcic: "I'm going to go do whatever it is we do."
In a blink of an eye, he was gone. He disappeared into the night, the way a Bonds blast was supposed to do Monday night.
Contact Cam Inman at [email protected].
~k.
Cop makes sure balls are real deal
Contra Costa Times
Contra Costa Times
Article Launched:07/24/2007 03:00:54 AM PDT
SAN FRANCISCO
DEAN MARCIC SAYS his neighbors in Concord don't know what he does for a side job.
Truth is, few are supposed to know what Marcic actually does. Or at least what he does when marking the balls pitched to Barry Bonds during the slugger's pursuit of Hank Aaron's home-run record.
"It's a covert process, very detailed," Marcic said. "The integrity of the program is protected very well."
Covert? Yummy. We're suckers for cloak-and-dagger stuff, or anything to spice up a column off a game -- like Monday night's when Bonds didn't add to his total of 753 career home runs in the Giants' 4-2 loss to Atlanta.
By day, Marcic is an auto-theft investigator for the San Francisco Police Department. By night -- or, at least, on Monday night and throughout Bonds' pursuit of No. 756 -- Marcic is Major League Baseball's chief authenticator.
That means he keeps track of the baseballs Bonds is trying to belt out of the park.
Consider it a witness-protection program for those uniquely marked balls, which are substituted into the game -- four balls at a time, in a specific order -- when Bonds steps to the plate. That practice has been going on since Bonds' hit No. 751 on July 3 at Cincinnati.
Marcic's job is to protect the identity of those balls, those cash cows for souvenir collectors.
"It's a bit of history I never expected to be a part of," Marcic said, "and it's pretty cool."
For the 17-year SFPD veteran, it probably beats tracking down more stolen convertibles -- "Ragtops, people love 'em." -- or 1996 Saturns -- "You can stick a can opener in them and it'll turn the ignition. Don't tell anyone."
Whoops, sorry about that.
Well, Marcic's not about to unveil the uniqueness about, shall we say, the fingerprints he puts on Bonds' baseballs.
"There's not a picture," said Marcic, debunking theories of a hologram depicting Bonds' winking at himself or commissioner Bud Selig thumbing his nose at Bonds. "It's serialized, and there's other ... let's keep it generic and say we can find out which ball is which."
That goes for foul balls, too. So don't try conning your way into a fortune, fans. Umpires are instructed before games as to the order Bonds' baseballs must be inserted into the game. Those balls, by the way, are initially rubbed up by the Giants before Marcic puts his mark on them.
"When we're in the stands, we keep track of which ones went where," said Marcic, who was stationed in center field Monday night while another MLB authenticator was behind home plate with the secret stash of balls. "When a ball's hit out there, I go find it."
That doesn't mean it's his and his cohort's job to determine the rightful owner of said ball. They don't want to get mixed up in any lawsuit like those over Bonds' 700th career home run in 2004 and his record-setting 73rd in 2001.
"We're not saying who has possession," Marcic said. "We'll find the ball. Believe me, we'll find it and authenticate it and give it back to the person it belongs to."
Marcic sure sounds believable when he says he could care less if it's Bonds or anyone else closing in on the record. That impartiality surely helped land him this gig when baseball officials sought outside help from SFPD.
"They had issues with guys getting starstruck. I don't care who it is, really," Marcic said. "They asked if I liked baseball and I told them, 'Not really.'"
Why not?
"It's pretty slow," he said.
So might be this final stretch for Bonds as he closes in on Aaron.
Asked if he thinks Bonds is a heroic hitter or a cheating scumbag, Marcic responded: "I don't think he's a cheating scumbag. He's doing his job."
Still, Marcic isn't about to go ask Bonds for an autograph. He's a Warriors season-ticket holder, and he already has other memorabilia to cherish.
"I've got a Chris Mullin-signed basketball," he said.
Yeah, but is it authenticated?
"It's signed," Marcic replied with a smile. "I can't tell if it's authentic or not."
At least he'll be able to tell the authenticity of the baseballs being pitched to Bonds.
And what if he's the lucky one who catches No. 756?
"I'm outta here," he replied.
About an hour before Monday night's game, it was indeed time for him to get out of the Giants dugout. He headed down the dugout steps and into parts unknown to have a sit-down with Bonds' baseballs.
Said Marcic: "I'm going to go do whatever it is we do."
In a blink of an eye, he was gone. He disappeared into the night, the way a Bonds blast was supposed to do Monday night.
Contact Cam Inman at [email protected].
~k.