Baseball’s high tech move toward in-game authentication goes even further than that baseball you just caught.

Baseball memorabilia is a multi-billion dollar industry in which everything from home run balls, autographs, bases and name plates are purchased by fans around the world. Much of it used to sneak out of the clubhouse. Not anymore.

Major League Baseball has gotten involved in a big way this decade and is now taking it to the next step.

Handheld wireless devices will be used to scan balls that are caught for home runs, taking away some of the questions of legitimacy.

The move puts a little more pressure on MLB authenticators to get to the person who wound up with the ball. But that’s not the only new technology coming out of MLB’s deal with IBM.