Below are a few pictures of an unfinished Rawlings MLB Baseball given to BigLeaugeBaseballs.com. These balls came direct from Rawlings (Thank you!). These are the same demo balls provided for special events such as the All-Star Game festivities where Rawlings often sets up a display and demonstration for fans to learn about authentic MLB equipment.

Rawlings Official Major League Baseball Incomplete Demonstration Ball

Rawlings Incomplete Stitching on Official MLB Ball

And finally a video I found on Youtube showing a Rawlings staff member stitching one of these baseballs at an event:

And the Official Baseball for the 2010 World Series, below. The initial images never focus on the commemorative logo, but it appears to be the exact same image as the patch above. *UPDATE: We have a better image below that centers on the commemorative logo. Compare to the 2009 World Series Ball – very similar.* Gold stamping of course. This is the second year in a row that the text “Fall Classic” appears in the logo, on the Official Ball. It’s also the third year in a row that the small leaf design, outlined by home plate, appeared on the official game ball.

As usual, we’ll update this post with better images once they’re available. Most likely, we’ll wait until we’ve got our own photos to add to the Museum of Baseballs World Series Baseball Gallery. No information on when this ball will be available for purchase from major retailers, but it typically takes at least a few weeks following the release of renderings.

There are quite possibly a few official commemorative gamers that we still don’t know about – despite being the self-proclaimed experts on this wonderful niche of the sports memorabilia world.

Well, it almost happened again this year, but not for lack of attention on our part. Major League Baseball’s two international “series” were prime targets for commemorative game baseballs, but until recently we had not seen (cow)-hide nor hair of  a special event ball for either. We even included one of these potential baseballs in our 2010 Wish List post, which came out after the official commemorative game ball list was released.

That means there were originally no plans for it to be released to the public, and perhaps no plans to even produce ballfor the series. And that series is the 2010 Taiwan Games. Additionally, the San Juan Series wasn’t even announced until after the 2010 MLB season was underway – but we started investigating as soon as we got word.

Both were obvious opportunities for commemorative balls, so we were disappointed when at first it appeared there would be none. Well, we learned not long after the Dodgers returned from Taiwan that there was a special game ball used in the series. And we only knew because we were sent a picture from a friend of a friend who attended the games and snagged a foul ball ———————–>>>

Sweet! But wait, where could we find one?

None of the dealers carried them. Apparently, they weren’t sold at the event. They were nowhere. So, if you didn’t snag a game ball from the field of play, you weren’t getting one. But for the sake of BigLeagueBaseballs.com, the dear members of our Forum and for the Museum of Baseballs, we had to find a way…

Behold, the 2010 Taiwan Games Official Game Ball!

Rawlings 2010 Taiwan Games Official Major League Baseball, used by the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chinese Professional Baseball League all-stars.

• Rawlings 2010 Taiwan Series Game Ball, Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Chinese Professional Baseball League – CPBL (中 華職業棒球大聯盟)

We’re thrilled to add it to the collection, and it’s great to know that despite it being so new, it is going to be one of rarer commemorative game balls made by Rawlings. We’re fortunate to also have a few extra, which offered some to our dedicated forum members. It is tough to think there might be many genuine commemorative game ball collectors who haven’t discovered BigLeagueBaseballs.com yet, and therefor might not get their hands on one. So I think we’ll offer up one or two on Ebay to give other a fair shot!

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So how about the second international series for 2010? This one was much more prominent, taking place during the regular season – meaning the stats and the outcomes mattered. Also, the series was much closer to home, in San Juan, the capital of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It was billed as the San Juan Series, and pitted the Florida Marlins against the New York Mets.

We’ll get to the details later, but first, business:

Rawlings 2010 San Juan Series Official Major League Baseball, used by the Florida Marlins and New York Mets June 28-30.

• Rawlings 2010 San Juan Series Official Game Ball, New York Mets vs. Florida Marlins (San Juan de la serie: los Marlins de Florida contra los Mets de Nueva York.)

This time, we were informed by trusted sources that there would be an Official Commemorative Major League Baseball made for this series. We also realized this ball would be very scarce, much like the Taiwan Games baseball. It was in fact nearly impossible to find. Again, if you weren’t at the Series, and didn’t catch a foul or home run ball, you were most likely out of luck.

One man we know did exactly that: He caught Mike Stanton’s 2nd career Major League home run, in the first game of the series – our favorite ballhawk slash baseball author Zack Hample. And he also accomplished another important thing – his snag below and subsequent blog post with pictures proves that these baseballs were used throughout the series – no switching back to the regular game ball in the later innings as has been rumored with a few other commemorative gamers.

Zack Hample's baseballs from the first game of the San Juan Series in Puerto Rico. Batting practice baseballs pictured on top, with two gamers on bottom.

For plenty of other pictures and his first hand account of the catch, check out his blog posts from his trip to San Juan.

For the good of the site, and our mission to collect one of every official game ball, we had to find one. We ended up finding several. Once again, lucky forum members had a crack at purchasing one. Unfortunately, like the Taiwan baseballs, they’re all spoken for. Who knows if we’ll be able to find any more.

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So how about some details from each series?

• The Taiwan games are intriguing. Instead of plagiarizing, check out the article below. In summary, it discusses how the Taiwanese government, along with local baseball officials, urged the Dodgers to make the goodwill trip. Why the urgency?

Taiwanese professional baseball has been rocked by a game-fixing scandal that resulted in the February indictments of 24 people, including nine players from the four-team league. (From: Dodgers, MLB, try to repair baseball in Taiwan, by Steve Henson.)

• The main difference in the 2008 China Series and Japan Series games versus the 2010 Taiwan series is that the event in Taiwan pitted an MLB team against a team outside of the Majors, one that is comprised of players from another league. Very similar to the original Japanese All-Star Series, which was last played in 2006.

• Manny Ramirez finally decided to join his club for the trip. Apparently, he had more incentive than the incredible experience one has when traveling abroad and learning first hand about other cultures and lands: 170,000 additional incentives to be exact.

• It appears the goodwill tour was a hit with the locals. Check out some additional coverage here.

• The San Juan Series between the Marlins and Mets was originally set to take place in Miami as a regular home series for Florida. It was later moved to San Juan to become the only international regular season series of the 2010 MLB season.

• The San Juan Series featured six native Puerto Rican coaches and players on the Marlins and Mets rosters: coaches Edwin Rodriguez and Jose Espada of the Marlins, and players Alex Cora, Angel Pagan, Pedro Feliciano and Jesus Feliciano of the Mets.

• The San Juan Series took place at Hiram Bithorn Stadium, the same venue that hosted the Montreal Expos for 22 games each year in the 2003 and 2004 baseball seasons. It was also the site for several World Baseball Classic games in the 2006 and 2009 events.

• Read more about the San Juan Series here and here.

What’s even more perplexing is the text around the Spalding stamp. “The 5x Center,” what in the world does that mean?

Spalding American League Cronin Ball with multi-colored laces and "The 5X Center" Stamp

Reverse side of the Spalding American League Cronin 5X Ball

Could this have been a prototype baseball, or even an actual gamer? It certainly shows game use, and it did come from the estate of late Boston Red Sox executive vice president Dick O’Connell, who served in that role for the organization from 1961-1977. He also was the Sox general manager from ’65 – ’77, or so Wikipedia tells us. So there’s plenty of evidence that suggests these baseballs were at least on the field at some point during the late ’60s to early ’70s.

But it’s still likely that these 5X balls were nothing more than a failed experiment. Perhaps tested in spring training or batting practice. Or maybe they were a success? Any changes made to the design of the ball, such as the rubber pill at its core, could have taken place the following year, and would have never effected the outside of the game ball…

As far as these specific balls being used in Official MLB games, that’s still doubtful. Cronin was president of the AL from 1959-1973. Certainly well outside of the red and blue stitched Reach American League Baseball era – which included baseballs like this 1930s Harridge Reach example pictured on the right.

Additionally, lone Spalding stamps did not appear on American League baseballs until the 1975 season, which falls within the Lee MacPhail AL presidency. Though it’s possible that Spalding stamped their experimental baseballs with the regular NL and corporate Spalding stamp well before the Reach label was abandoned; the Spalding Orange Baseballs featured in this Big League Baseballs exclusive Charles O. Finley article are another example.

Spalding Feeney National League Baseball Yellow Laced 5X Center

There is no information about “The 5X Center” available on the web, and we don’t own a library card. So as usual we’re forced to speculate about these rare and very special baseballs.

One thing is for sure, we’ve only seen two of these, both used, and we’ve also seen the 5X Spalding stamp on a Charles Feeney National League ball (pictured on the left), which sold on Ebay several years ago for a nice chunk of change. Wish we were willing to splurge back then.

So if you have any information about these baseballs, feel free to post on the Big League Baseballs Forum or leave a comment in the section below (either way, you’ll need to sign up on the main site or in the Forum).

In the coming weeks, we’ll delve deep into the history of Official Game Balls, and take a look at the very first versions of Major League’s Official Game Ball. We’ll also be offering our loyal readers and forum members the chance to purchase a few extremely rare, impossible to find Official Game Baseballs from… 2010.

Dennis Schrader’s baseball shrine: Prepare to enter  “Little Cooperstown,”  the world’s largest known collection of autographed Major League Baseballs.

The largest collection of autographed baseballs in the world (as recognized by Guinness World Records) is not in Cooperstown, New York, it is at “Little Cooperstown,” in Odessa Florida.

It all began for Dennis Schrader when he was 9 years old and accompanied a friend to the spring training site for the Yankees.  He was sitting in the dugout, taking in the sights and holding a baseball that he picked up after it rolled near him, when number “7″ came out of the Yankee clubhouse and addressed the young Dennis “the Menace” as he is now known.  The young man found the courage to ask “the Mick” for an autograph; from that moment on Dennis was hooked.

Dennis has autographed baseballs from everybody in the Hall of Fame; autographs from .400 hitters; the members of the 300 Win Club; the members of the 500 Home Run Club; and almost any other club in baseball you can think of.   When asked if there was anybody he was still looking to get on a baseball, Dennis simply answered “no.”  He recalls searching long and hard for a Pud Galvin baseball to finish up his 300 Win Club. Now he has them all.

Dennis is still adding to his collection but most people are not going to be able to offer him anything he doesn’t already have.  Every year there are new prospects to get (yup, he already has Bryce Harper), so he continues to get those guys but at this point, with over 4,300 baseballs, the collection kind of feeds off itself.  It is not uncommon for people to contact Dennis and offer him baseballs or for young players to ask to be part of his collection. Presently, Dennis is getting autographs on baseballs of various celebrities and public figures: Obama, check. Palin, check. John Wayne, John Trovolta, check and check. You name it and there is a good chance he has it.

1939 Hall of Fame Inductees - The 1st Class

Among some of Dennis’ more impressive signed baseballs is a multi-signed baseball from the first Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in 1939.  All 11 players present and alive (Lou Gehrig was alive but not present because of his health) signed the ball.  There is a beautiful single signed “Shoeless” Joe Jackson ball.  Signed “Shoeless” Joe baseballs are incredibly hard to find.  He did not sign many baseballs because he was illiterate and actually had to learn to sign his name to cash his paychecks.

There is a Joe DiMaggio/Marilyn Monroe duel signed baseball; which is one of only two known to exist.  The other sold in 2006 for $191,000.00.  There are multiple Babe Ruth signed baseballs ranging from an early smaller signature to the more prominent and recognized big full signature that Ruth used in his prime.

Spalding Yellow National League Baseball signed by the 1939 Brooklyn Dodgers

Of particular interest to fans of Big League Baseballs is a Yellow National League Ford Frick ball signed by the 1939 Brooklyn Dodgers.  These yellow baseballs were in Major League games for a short time because the lights at Ebbets Field were so bad.

Part of the collection at Little Cooperstown focuses on the Negro League Players, All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Players, owners, coaches and broadcasters.  Every group is represented.  Dennis and his obviously supportive wife, Mary, display parts of the collection every year at Tropicana Field during the Rays Fan Fest and he regularly opens his home for private tours.  People have flown in from all over the world to see his collection.

1916 American League Reach Baseball, first home run hit as a NY Yanlee by John Franklin "Home Run" Baker

When I talked to Dennis about the collection and the people that routinely come to see the collection you can tell he has a sense of pride when talking about the history of the game. He takes particular pride in showing off baseballs signed by players of historical significance, such as Dummy Hoy (a deaf mute player responsible for wide spread use of umpire hand signals).  Dennis always shows off the old timers, such as a 1916 ball signed by Frank “Home Run” Baker, which also happens to be the actual first home run Baker hit as a Yankee, but Dennis knows the younger generations tend to ask for his Jeter, Pujols, A-Rod, and Longoria baseballs.

It is impossible not to look at this collection and become overwhelmed by the sense of baseball history that is present, and Dennis recognizes it. Requests to purchase baseballs from the collection are met with a “sorry not interested” from Mr. Schrader. Dennis once turned down an offer of $2 million for the whole collection.

The collection is so impressive because of how complete it is – everybody is there, together in one brilliant shrine.  Although, there is one baseball missing: that Mickey Mantle ball that started it all.  “Long gone,” says Dennis.

That ball, signed by The Commerce Comet, became a favorite for Schrader. As a child he showed it off to the other kids on his street, and even used it for a neighborhood game of baseball.

For more information about Dennis Schrader and Little Cooperstown, visit www.littlecooperstown.com.

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New York Yankees 1927 "Murderers Row" Signed Reach Baseball

BigLeagueBaseballs greatly appreciates Dennis Schrader for letting us visit his amazing baseball shrine. And we owe a big “thank you” to Big League Baseballs contributor Matthew Felix, who interviewed Dennis and wrote this entry. For those with questions about Dennis Schrader and his collection, join and post in the Big League Baseballs Forum, of which Mr. Schrader is a member.

2010 Rawlings All-Star futures Game Baseball

Rawlings 2010 Home Run Derby Baseball, Los Angeles

Rawlings 2010 Home Run Derby Gold Baseball, Los Angeles

UPDATE: New images are posted showing the actual balls for the 2010 All-Star Futures Game, 2010 Home Run Derby, and the 2010 Home Run Derby Gold “Money” Baseball. Note the games and baseballs are sponsored in part by State Farm for the Home Run Derby and XM Satellite Radio for the Futures Game.

We also have better pictures of the 2010 All-Star Game and Target Field Inaugural Game Baseballs in the Museum of Baseballs.

Rawlings 2010 All-Star Baseball

Rawlings 2010 Twins Target Field Inaugural Season Ball

We have a few of these 2010 All-Star and Target Field baseballs New in Box, available for trade or sale if anyone still needs one, though we have no official online shopping system set up yet. We’re slackers. If you’re interested, send us an email.

Big League Baseballs has uncovered a key turning point in the history of the Mid-Summer Classic’s game ball, and now we offer you the exclusive interview and story about how today’s colorful baseballs came to be, and how one fan and team employee, along with one Hall of Famer, played an integral part in the reincarnation of multi-color laced Rawlings Official Major League Baseballs.

The official regular season game balls used in Major League Baseball today may seem cold, corporate and lacking in aesthetic appeal and imagination to most autograph and memorabilia collectors. The  Rawlings Official RO-MLB game ball has remained unchanged since 2000. It features blue ink, the iconic MLB batter logo on the lower panel (a big design upgrade compared to the lower panels of previous AL and NL balls), and the official stamping with commissioner Allan “Bud” Selig’s facsimile signature. The Majors switched to a universal game ball after dissolving the American and National League presidents’ offices, and ended a near 100-year run of individual league balls for both leagues. But regular season balls haven’t always been so bland.

One of the great cosmetic highlights of vintage Reach and Spalding baseballs of yesteryear were multi-colored laces, blue and red for the American League and black and red for the National League. Though it was only a short time before the leagues switch to all red laces on their respective baseballs, those vintage balls represent an era of America’s pastime and vintage memorabilia that is prized by serious collectors. The Majors went nearly 60 years without deviating from those red laces (with perhaps the exception of this new find from our last post). That was until one man, with a passion for baseball nostalgia and an astute marketing mind, got a chance to leave his stamp on the Major League’s Official Game ball.

Andy Strasberg, currently the owner of ACME Sports Marketing in San Diego, developed his baseball roots as a young New York Yankees fan living in Bronx, NY in the 1950′s. He is known by his peers as Roger Maris’s number one fan, and it’s hard to argue that considering Maris himself acknowledged it when Strasberg had the honor of meeting him in 1960s. Strasberg and Maris developed an uncommon friendship between fan and legendary sports star, one that perhaps helped pave the way for him to turn his love of the game into a successful career in the biz of baseball. The story of Strasberg and Maris is well documented and stands alone; what makes Andy an icon to BigLeagueBaseballs.com is his own contribution to the game and to the evolution of the Official Game Ball

In 1978, when Andy Strasberg was working as Padres Director of Promotions under VP of Marketing Elten Schiller, the organization was awarded the right to host the Mid-Summer Classic. With Schiller in charge of organizing the Padres end of the game, Mr. Strasberg was given limited responsibilities as a relative newcomer to the front office. But from that point forward he began developing ideas for when his time would come to lead the team’s marketing initiative for such an celebrated event.

MLB Official Game Balls were destined for a revolutionary change when Strasberg and the San Diego Padres ball club learned in 1989 that they’d been awarded the right to host the 1992 All-Star Game. Strasberg was put in charge of organizing and facilitating the festivities on behalf of the Padres and he coordinated efforts in MLB front offices in New York.

Andy was prepared, he referred to his list of ideas he had been developing since the ’78 game. And the one idea that makes Strasberg a legend at Big League Baseballs? It was simply to have the laces replicate the colors of team. “I took the old red and blue stitch baseball and translated it to a new All-Star Game ball,” remembers Strasberg.

Brilliant. Simple, yes, but brilliant.

Andy proposed a dozen new ideas to top-level folks at Major League Baseball, and, “to my shock and astonishment, they said ‘yes’ to all.” Andy notes that the toughest idea for MLB to accept was the radical change to the game ball.

“People in MLB thought the ball might be a distraction and a problem. I thought that was ludicrous. We tried three or four different types of baseballs. The first one had black stitching. I said ‘it’s not right.’ The next had blue stitching, then orange. We went through a number of prototypes. They finally made a protoype I liked, and made 6 dozen that had Padres colors.”

And BigLeagueBaseballs.com is fortunate enough to have the evidence of these protypes (a BIG thank you to Andy Strasberg):

Strasberg continues: “The agreement was if Tony Gwynn took batting practice and didn’t have a problem seeing and hitting the ball, they’d allow it. He took BP, and I asked him if he had any problem seeing them. He said ‘no, no problem whatsoever.’ That’s how those baseballs became a reality. It started in San Diego in ’92 and it has carried on ever since.”

Three Rawlings 1992 All-Star Game Prototype Baseballs, with the Official Game Ball pictured at top.

Strasberg received little recognition for the idea to bring back multi-colored stitching to the game’s Official Baseball. Several of the other innovations that he played a part in were coveted by those fortunate enough to attend the game. One of those included a bit of a “prank” -  sneaking a girl into the outfield, with hair tucked under a ball cap, to shag fly balls with the guys during the Homerun Derby. “She eventually took off her hat, letting her pony tail fall out, and the crowd went crazy,” said Strasberg. “She was a softball player, and was out there catching line drives.”

Some more collectibles made possible by Strasberg: The Official Game Programs: “I wanted the program to play take me out to the ball game; open it up, it does.” And when the program is opened up certain page, a “popup” presents fans with a foldout baseball card. Strasberg’s contributions to baseball memorabilia also include perhaps the most unique Rawlings Official Commemorative Game Baseball ever made, the 1996 La Primera Serie Official National League (Coleman stamped) game ball.

Rawlings 1996 Baseball La Primera Serie, Monterrey, Mexico

Yes, it features multi-colored laces, all thanks to Strasberg’s breakthrough concept in 1992, which opened the door for such colorful creativity to be brought back into the game. The red and green laces were a no-brainer for Andy, who wanted to replicate the host nation’s official colors and baseballs. The red stamping was also a first on a regular season game ball.

This is the first NL commemorative gamer ever used, and it commemorated the first MLB regular season games in Mexico. Strasberg noted that at that time, these weren’t made for “merchandising” as much as they were used to truly make the games that much more special.

Today, Strasberg continues to contribute to the game. As the founder of Fantography, he enables fans to share their personal photographs of America’s favorite pastime with other fans. Strasberg encourages all fans to contribute their pictures from their trips ballpark, and he notes that “some of the world’s best baseball photos are in shoeboxes all over the word.” For a detailed story behind Fantography, check this post on Sports Then and Now.

Strasberg’s connection to the game, and specifically to Roger Maris, also landed him a technical advisory role on the set of the Billy Crystal directed HBO special 61*. His responsibilities for the production were to assure the film’s great attention to detail as it retold Maris’s historic home run record breaking season. He appeared in the film in a small role, and also helped commission Fotoball, (which along with Rawlings was a subsidiary of K2 Inc.) to make 10 dozen official-style American League Joe Cronin-stamped baseballs.  They were real baseballs complete with leather covers, replicated Spalding-Reach logos and Cronin facsimile signatures. And they were used as the official baseballs in the film. And, thanks again to Andy, one of these official movie props is pictured:

A prop from the Billy Crystal HBO Film 61* - Reach AL Cronin Reproduction Baseball

Awesome! Check out the trailer for 61*, at about the 18 second mark, you can see one of these reproduction baseballs in action:

Finally, one last note, as if Mr. Strasberg hasn’t provided Big League Baseballs with enough amazing experiences at baseball’s highest level, we’ve found a book that he co-authored: Baseball’s Greatest Hit: The Story of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.“

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Now just think where commemorative MLB game baseballs would be today without Andy’s contribution? All of the All-Star balls from 1992-2010 feature multi-color laces. After Strasberg brough his Padres orange and bright blue laces into the game, baseballs have been stitched with black, yellow, purple, green, navy blue, dark blue, silver/gray and sandstone/off-white. And, we can count at least nine commemorative MLB game balls with either multi-colored laces or balls that feature lace colors other than the traditional red:

1. 1995 Cal Ripken consecutive games record “8″ ball
2. 1996 La Primera Serie, Monterrey, Mexico ball
3. 1996 Mickey Mantle Day ball
4. 1998 Joe DiMaggio Day ball
5. 1999 All-Star Game Home Run Derby, Boston, ball
6. 2002 MLB Opening Day ball
7. 2002 Memorial Day ball (anyone have an extra?)
8. 2002 4th of July ball
9. 2002 9/11 ball

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BigLeagueBaseballs.com would like to thank Andy for all the time he took to share his amazing stories with the site, and all the pictures he contributed. And on behalf of baseball memorabilia collectors all over the world, a collective admiration and a big thank you for his incredible contributions of the evolution of Major League Baseball’s Official Game Ball – where would commemorative baseballs be without his reintroduction of multi-colored laces to the Official All-Star Game Ball? Check our forum to discuss this and other stories about Official Game Balls and other sports memorabilia.

Spalding NL Frick Ball with Multi-Colored Laces

Big League Baseballs came across what appears to be a heck of a find, this vintage Spalding National League baseball. Stamped with NL president Ford C. Frick’s signature, it’s a beauty, and there is little information about it. What makes it unique, and apparently extremely rare, are the multi-colored laces. Two-toned laces were a thing of the past by the time Frick became president of the NL, according to all the records available for vintage major league baseballs.

So what gives with this pristine ball, why the two different stitch colors? The last multi-color laced NL ball of the early 1900s is, according to many resources, a John Heydler NL President stamped black and red laced Spalding ball, most likely last put into play in 1933. Frick became the league’s president in 1934, but judging by the manufacturer’s stamp on this ball, it’s most likely from the late ’30s to early ’40s. It also came with the box pictured to the right, but there’s no way to verify that it was originally packaged in this box (although it’s likely that it was).

Multi-colored laces on official MLB baseballs did not come back around again until the 1990s, and we’ve got an incredible story about that coming to BigLeagueBaseballs.com next week.

In the meantime, Big League Baseballs’ forum member and vintage-style baseball creator William Peebles (check out his amazing hand-made baseballs) was kind enough to send in the picture below, taken from the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. It is the only other known multi-laced MLB ball like the Frick NL ball that we’ve seen, and there is no photo of the manufacturer’s stamp available. We haven’t been searching for this variety of Official Major League Baseball for long as this is a new discovery, but all of our searches have come up empty for any other information.

The ball pictured, as noted, was hit by Hank Greenberg for his 20th home run in 1940. So we at least know these were used in official MLB regular season games in the 1940 MLB Baseball Season. And since Greenberg was a member of the American League’s Detroit Tigers, this ball should be a Reach-made William Harridge President-stamped American League baseball.

So did both league’s field baseballs with multi-color laces for a short time period? Could these possibly be “mistakes?” Or is it possible that one of the laces has faded completely while the other remained unchanged? I have doubts about both of those possible explanations.

Does anyone out there have any other information on this rare Ford Frick Spalding baseball with two-toned laces, or another variety? We’d love to hear from you in the forum or in the comments section below. If you have another photo of an example of one of these baseballs, please send us an email.

We’ve been informed by several contacts that the commemorative 2010 Jackie Robinson Day Baseballs are no longer in the plans for Jackie Robinson Day tomorrow. We’re not 100% on this, but it does sound very likely as it comes from a dependable source and dealers.

There is no additional information, we’re not sure if these balls were just scrapped somewhere in the planning stages, if there were prototypes made, or if planning never even made it that far. Disappointment all around today at Big League Baseballs. We’re also patiently awaiting orders of all the current 2010 commemorative game balls, which have now surpassed one month in delays. And all this after going a solid month without a single post. Sorry!

By the way, it’s hard to find much information about Jackie Robinson Day 2010 festivities online. Aside from trying to scroll through hundreds of old posts using the antiquated search function on Major League Baseball’s site, (someone please convince there guys to splurge for Google search functions) we’ve only found a few news posts on a couple of teams’ websites. Are celebrations now being scaled back, and if so, why?

This is one of the few articles we found after a quick search in Google, and the Milwaukee Brewers have a brief article announcing plans to wear Robinson’s number 42 on all jerseys.

I’m sure there are more, there should be more. But they must be poorly key-worded or have no search engine enhancement whatsoever. Our own site comes up second in a Google Search for “Jackie Robinson Day 2010,” and we have little to offer readers beyond pure speculation… and a few dirty old baseballs in the Shoppe (and geeze, are these guys EVER going to update this so-called “store?”).

Someday folks, some day soon.

Then you’ve seen the Rawlings 2007 Official Opening Day Baseball:

And the Rawlings 2008 Official Opening Day Baseball:

2009:

Presenting the Rawlings Official 2010 Opening Day Baseball:

2010 Rawlings Official Opening Day Baseball

Ta-da! Again? Another reiteration of the this MLB Opening Day Logo? I blame Selig. Thanks Bud, you are now solely responsible for the lamest news post on Big League Baseballs. On this site, product begets content; don’t blame the messenger.

Honestly, the first time around it was a nice commemorative logo. The banner is great, very patriotic. It could be reused in several different ways too, even minor alterations beyond the last digit (or last two digits this year) would probably be enough to satisfy me. I’ve got to get a few regardless, but the casual autograph and memorabilia collector might be more interested in purchasing  a few with just a little more creative effort.

One final note on this special event baseball: the rumor is this will only be a Ceremonial First Pitch ball. We don’t have anything official to back that up yet, but we were hoping that would allow for a bit more creativity. Maybe even multi-color laces – red and blue we figured, if any. Regardless, some folks will be disappointed if this is the case. Some won’t consider it an official gamer, understandably, and nobody will be able to snag one during batting practice or actual game play. Hopefully as we discussed in previous posts, this is not the start of a trend for special event baseballs. The only advantage is it might allow Major League Baseball to offer more commemorative balls throughout each season, and that’s just a guess.

Lastly, please don’t hate us for the slightly negative review, Mr. Rawlings! We’re still your biggest fans!