BIG LEAGUE BASEBALLS

2011 MLB Winter Meetings Provide First Look at 2012 Rawlings Commemorative Baseballs

By BLB Admin on December 7th, 2011

UPDATED! 2/11/2012 – The 2012 Japan Opening Series Baseball (Oakland Athletics vs. Seattle Mariners) has been added to the lineup, and is pictured at the bottom of the article.

Christmas is coming early for official baseball collectors and fans of many teams. Rawlings and Major League Baseball have started unveiling the commemorative game balls that the league plans to use next season, and it’s shaping up to be a breakout year for many teams.

We’ve long hoped for more commemoratives recognizing stadium and team anniversaries, and it’s as though the marketing team for Major League Baseball is reading our minds.

For 2012, five baseballs have already been announced – all of which will be used throughout the season. They’ll recognize big milestones for five franchises. And there are plenty more to come. For now, we’ll keep this post quick, but update it as each new Official Rawlings Major League Baseball is released. We apologize for the photos, we’ll eventually replace them with larger files once we get these game balls in our collection.

Red Sox fans and all those attending games in Boston will be able to snag and purchase this game ball all season long at Fenway Park:

Rawlings Boston Red Sox Fenway Park 100th Anniversary Baseball

Dodgers fans and all those attending games in Los Angeles will have a chance to catch a foul ball with this amazing 50th Anniversary stadium logo!

Rawlings Dodger Stadium 50th Anniversary Baseball

The New York Mets and Houston Astros are both commemorating their 50th Season in Major League Baseball by using the following Official Gamers at home games all season long:

2012 Rawlings New York Mets 50th Anniversary Baseball

2012 Rawlings Houston Astros 50th Anniversary Baseball

Final update for today – and possibly for a few weeks – the Baltimore Orioles will be celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Oriole Park at Camden Yards with this official MLB ball – also to be used in all Orioles home games:

2012 Rawlings Oriole Park at Camden Yards 20th Anniversary Baseball

And we’ve still got plenty of baseballs yet to be officially announced – all of the 2012 Rawlings All-Star event balls and potentially a few more commemorative game baseballs (we’re hoping the other baseballs on our wish list make the cut). You can expect all five of the new baseballs to be available for sale early next year by Rawlings Gear and most Rawlings dealers, as well is in respective stadium and team stores.

2012 Japan Opening Series Ball

Japan Series ball picture courtesy of Foley`s NY Pub and Restaurant.