Guest article written by Tom O’Reilly
Commemorative/anniversary/special event baseballs are a small but important piece of a sports memorabilia business that has ballooned to $5.4 billion annually according to one industry executive.
How is it decided which anniversaries and events to celebrate with a commemorative baseball? What goes into those decisions? Why might a team choose not to use a commemorative baseball? Generally, there will be anywhere from a couple to a few MLB teams using season-long commemorative baseballs during a given season.
Three teams are using such baseballs in 2019: the Cincinnati Reds (150th), Texas Rangers (Globe Life Park (GLP) final season) and San Diego Padres (50th). In 2018, six teams used commemorative baseballs: the San Francisco Giants, Colorado Rockies, Los Angeles Dodgers, Oakland A’s, Arizona Diamondbacks and Kansas City Royals. Next season, it is highly likely that the Rangers will use a ball to commemorate the inaugural season of their new ballpark, to be named Globe Life Field. Another commemorative possibility is the Milwaukee Brewers, who will be playing their 50th anniversary season since moving to Milwaukee.
The decision as to process whether or not to use a season-long commemorative is usually made about a year in advance and it is usually our marketing group that works with MLB on the process,” according to Mike Acosta, Manager, Authentication for the Houston Astros.
Some decisions are easier than others. The GLP ball being used by the Rangers this season “was a no-brainer decision,” said Dan Hanrahan, Manager, Authentics for the Texas Rangers. “I would be surprised to hear of any team closing out their ballpark that didn’t commemorate it in some way.” An inaugural season in a new ballpark is also largely an easy decision. But other milestones are not as cut-and-dry. “It’s a common practice for teams to celebrate their 50th anniversary, 25th anniversary, and in the case of the Reds this year, their 150th anniversary with just a commemorative campaign, if you will,” said Hanrahan. But a 10-year milestone, for example, may depend on the team, said Hanrahan. Ten years may be more meaningful to some than others. Price is typically not an issue when it comes to deciding whether or not to have a season-long baseball.
A season long commemorative baseball means your order would be at least in the low five-figures (at minimum, 12 dozen baseballs/game multiplied by 81 home games).Using a commemorative baseball means printing a different logo on one of the pieces of leather that will go into making the ball. Aside from the cost to create the logo and perhaps test it out, the difference in stamping the special logo on the leather itself is “not significant enough to move the needle for me,” said Hanrahan.
The bigger factor is likely the process of getting the ball approved my MLB, although that is not that difficult if the decision is made early enough. “MLB has the final say [on] the size of the logo and placement. We can use only one color, which is the same as the other printing on the ball,” said Acosta. [As ballhawks and collectors know, the logo dimensions on MLB commemorative baseballs have gotten smaller in the last couple of years. This really came into play in 2017 when MLB used baseballs for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, July 4th, and Memorial Day, that all had different colored stitching than the normal red that pops out. There were serious complaints by the hitters, and MLB decided to crack down on what they would allow in the future, but that is really a story for another day.]
Both Acosta and Hanrahan acknowledged that while the season-long commemorative baseballs tend to be popular with the fans, and they may get a few more purchase requests for authenticated game balls from out-of-towners, they don’t necessarily sell more game-used balls than in a non-commemorative season. “People love seeing them,” said Acosta. “I know many people have collections of commemorative baseballs from around the league. They are unique items. I think using a commemorative baseball adds to the celebration of a major anniversary,” continued Acosta. “That said, I think teams should be selective in what they want to use commemorative baseballs for. I don’t think MLB wants to have special print on a ball for just any milestone.”
MLB Special Event Balls: A Different Beast
Special event balls, celebrating an induction into a team Hall of Fame or otherwise, are different than season-long commemoratives. They will typically be used in only a handful of games, perhaps just one.
The Rangers celebrated Adrian Beltre’s retirement this past June with a ceremony that included a commemorative baseball, used only in that game. Interestingly, the Rangers played two games on the day of Beltre’s ceremony due to a make-up game, but even then, they only used the special balls during the originally scheduled game, which was the second game of the double-header.
There’s more to the decision-making process for a one-game ball like Beltre. Hanrahan played a more significant role in the decision-making process rather than a season-long commemorative because the Beltre ball has a bigger impact on his side of the business, the Rangers’ game-used authentics. “When it came to the Adrian Beltre ball, I did kind of force that issue through because of the value of the ball,” said Hanrahan. “We seek those opportunities, in all candor, to first and foremost, pay homage to a player of Adrian Beltre’s caliber and his contribution to our organization and to help with our sales of game-used baseballs.”
Still, at least a few things had to fall into place before the Beltre ball became a reality. For one, Beltre had to have the kind of career that he had, and then retire. The Rangers had to want to honor Beltre with a ceremony, and Beltre had to agree to be honored. Unlike a season-long commemorative where it is a team-decision, now you have two parties that have to agree on everything, from if the event happens, to when it happens, what the logo looks like, and if there will be a ball.
MLB, of course, has to sign off on the logo(s) and how they will be used. Further, there’s a financial aspect that must be worked out between the Rangers and Belre. Former players like Beltre deserve to be compensated when their likeness is being used to sell products and services. Suffice it to say, the logistics involved in a one-game ball like Beltre’s retirement are more complicated than a season-long ball. “There’s a lot that goes into it,” said Hanrahan. “There’s a lot of internal decision that need to be made, and then it has to get checked off by all the appropriate parties, from the player involved, to legal, and baseball folks.” In the case of Beltre, it obviously all worked out, including the special game ball. The Beltre retirement balls were a hot commodity, said Hanrahan. Pricing for authenticated game-used baseballs from the game started at $100 and went up from there depending the play(s) the ball was used in. There was also a non-game version of the ball with a larger logo for autographs or just display that the Rangers sold.
If you weren’t at the game, you probably didn’t have much of a chance of scoring one of the Beltre retirement balls. Hanrahan didn’t say how many balls the Rangers sold (around 12 dozen balls will be used in a typical MLB game, but the game used authentics team typically only get 40-to-50 of those to sell), but it didn’t take long to sell all of the gamers he could get his hands on, as well as some balls that were prepared for play (i.e., mud-rubbed) but never made it into the game. “If I had 500 authenticated balls from that game, I probably could have sold them all,” said Hanrahan.
There was no advanced notice of a special Beltre ball. According to Hanrahan, there’s no specific reason why the ball wasn’t announced ahead of time, but it probably worked out better that way as he doesn’t take advanced orders on such balls in case he can’t end up fulfilling them, especially with so few balls to sell. Hanrahan offered an interesting side note to special event balls like the Beltre retirement ceremony. “Whenever a commemorative ball is used, whether it’s a player on our team, team support staff, or a member of ownership, they sometimes like to have one of those balls, so we order accordingly,” said Hanrahan. [As a side note, this season we saw the Rangers also do a Michael Young commemorative baseball for his retirement ceremony! The program seems to be going strong}
The fact that players, team staff and even owners like commemorative baseballs is a sure sign that they’ll be around for a long time to come!
Tom O’Reilly is a ballhawk, baseball and lineup card collector, and part-time sports writer. He blogs about ballhawking and lineup card collecting at https://lineupcards.wordpress.com/. Tom can be reached at oemtom@aol.com.
Hey everyone, Eric here, This was a fantastic first guest post on a series of many more to come on the site. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. Please check out Tom’s blog, it is really fantastic. Expect to see that name here at least once again.
I’ve been a little slow on posting of recent, college is busy, I’m doing my best to get the database up hopefully soon.
If you have a great idea for an article, let me know! I’d absolutely love to have more guest posts like these. Don’t be afraid to shoot me an email at: ericabneri@hallofcommemoratives.com