"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 3,000thhit," 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."