Major League Baseball warns N.J. memorabilia company to stop selling Derek Jeter 3,000th hit balls

Published Originally by NY Daily News on Thursday, July 21st, 2011.

Major League Baseball has told a New Jersey memorabilia company that it will receive a big-league legal beating if it does not stop selling baseballs commemorating Derek Jeter's 3,000th hit.

In a letter sent to Danny Mulroy of National Collectors Gallery on Tuesday, MLB Properties counsel Nicholas H. Eisenman ordered the Ridgewood, N.J., firm to stop selling the baseballs or face the wrath of MLB's lawyers.

"National Collectors' engraving on the unlicensed Derek Jeter baseball gives the false impression that this particular ball or any ball printed with this engraving is the actual ball used when Derek Jeter recorded his 3,000th hit," the cease-and-desist letter says.

National Collectors Gallery bought 100 Jeter-autographed baseballs from Steiner Sports, which is licensed to sell Yankee collectibles. The balls came with MLB holograms that authenticated Jeter's signature.

"We sold the balls to them," said Steiner Sports chief executive officer Brandon Steiner. "Plain, signed baseballs. Nothing with engraving."

NCG then engraved "DEREK JETER, 3000th HIT, YANKEE STADIUM, SATURDAY, JULY 9, 2011" on the balls before offering them to fans.

National Collectors Gallery was charging $599 for the balls, the same price Steiner Sports charges for plain Jeter-autographed baseballs on its website. Mulroy did not return requests for comment.

Steiner wouldn't say how much his firm billed NCG, but said the Ridgewood company has a wholesale account and paid less than the retail price.

"Our fans need to know that the items they are buying are authentic," Yankee president Randy Levine told The News. "We will be vigilant about this."

The letter from Eisenman demands NCG stop selling the balls immediately. If National Collectors Gallery does not comply with that request by 5 p.m. Thursday, MLB says it will drop the hammer.

"In the absence of a favorable, timely response, MLBP is prepared to take all steps necessary to preserve and protect the valuable rights of the MLB Entities without further notice," Eisenman wrote.

Meanwhile, a baseball sliced foul by Jeter just two pitches before his 3,000th hit goes on the auction block this week.

"It's from the same at-bat, and an actual game ball," said MEARS Online Auctions president Troy Kinunen. "It was very close to being the ball."

The foul was grabbed by Steven P. Picciano, 60, a lifelong Yankees fan from Nutley, N.J.