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Someone thought long and hard about your baseball team's logo. They probably envisioned it being printed on shirts and hats and maybe even as a bumper sticker. But have you thought about turning your team logo into a baseball pin?

There are a few good reasons why adding trading pins can work in your favor on many levels for your team.

A good baseball pin is durable, painted and sealed so that the colors don't fade or chip with use. And that's great considering so many people will have the chance to see your team's logo because of the pin!

 

Give Your Team Worthy Memorabilia

Pins are an easy way for kids or other fans of your baseball team to show support. A baseball pin can be attached to a collar or a shirt; it can be pinned to jean pockets or stuck onto a bookbag or other luggage.

Supporters of your team will likely sport their pins on gamedays, traveling from the stands to the vendors and back again while showing off your baseball trading pin.

Even when they aren't at the games, team supporters can wear a baseball pin out to strike up conversations and draw a little more attention to your team. Regardless of where it's worn, the pin is like a traveling marketing piece showcasing the ongoing support of your baseball team.

Fans Can Get Into Baseball Pin Trading

If you haven't heard of the world of pin trading, then you have been missing out on a practical addition to the sporting world.

You might have heard about pin trading at theme parks, birthday parties, and even the Olympic Games, but baseball games are a perfect time, too.

Pin trading allows for kids (or adults, we're not judging) a chance to interact with either fellow supporters or those from another team. Pin traders will meet before or after a game and trade pins for others that they prefer.

Pin trading is especially popular for little league baseball teams, where kids build their own networks of friends based on the trading game. Similar to any other collectible (like coins, cards, toys, etc.), it's something to take pride in.

Players and fans can get involved and develop relationships with people they might not have otherwise. And if you do your trading pin right, you might discover that your team can become a trend during baseball trading season.

Boost Team Morale With Baseball Pins

Players endure a lot during baseball season: the physical aches of practices and games, the time and energy required for the sport, the taunts of rival teams, living up to expectations... it's a lot.

What wyou can do to help your baseball team is bring out their fans and show love and support by making customized pins for their team.

When they feel they have fans who support them and are wearing their customized baseball pins, you might find that their performance goes up.

Where to Get Started

If you're interested in taking your baseball pins to the next step for your baseball team, definitely consider a reliable pin company that makes quality products. Our company, Baseball Trading Pins, has been a leader in pin manufacturing since 2003. We have  helped thousands of baseball teams!  We have a talented team of artists and knowledgable customer care team to help you every step of the way with your next pin design.

Contact us today for a quote or browse through our blog to learn more about trading pins! You can also call us at: 1-888-998-1746

Whether you're with a local Little League or a regional travel club, custom trading pins are a staple at baseball fields around the country.

Games and tournaments often see more trading than Wall Street. Players exchange their own pins for new ones, creating friendships and memories.

While most pin manufacturers offer to help with artwork, it's rewarding and special to design your team's pin yourself. Here's our guide on how to design custom trading pins for your baseball team.

Come Up With An Idea

Every great creation starts with an idea.

To design great custom trading pins for your baseball team, you need to brainstorm and develop a concept.

Just like with designing a logo, designing pins is easier said than done. Sometimes we can't come up with anything. Or the opposite happens -- with so many possibilities, it can be hard to narrow them all down.

Even the most creative minds can have "designer's block."

If you're stuck, search for inspiration!

A great way to start is by looking at some of the trading pins your team has used in the past or ones you've collected from other teams. Pick a few favorites, and write down what makes them so cool.

Another way to find inspiration is by browsing an online photo gallery of baseball pins. You can find pins of teams from all around the country, and you don't even need to meet them at a game or tournament to see them.

If you need even more ideas, don't be afraid to expand your search and look beyond baseball. Trading pins are a popular thing to collect in other sports as well. Check out pins made for football, hockey, basketball, and soccer teams.

Also search for pins from theme parks, museums, and events. They might not relate to sports, but they can show you all the possibilities of special things you can put on a trading pin.

Things You Might Include

Luckily, there's a lot of great imagery and symbols in the game of baseball. Here are some elements that you might consider including on your custom trading pins' design.

Baseballs

This is the obvious one, but your baseball pin needs to have a baseball!

Many pins take advantage of a baseball's round shape and use it as the main framework and outline of the design. Circular designs, called roundels, are a common feature of logos. They look great on hats, clothing, and yes, pins!

Baseballs are also great things to use as smaller design elements. They're the perfect thing to use for interactive pin enhancements like sliders, spinners, and danglers.

Diamonds

The diamond shape of the basepath is another iconic symbol of the sport.

Like the circular baseballs, a diamond is commonly used in the background to set the main shape of the pin.

Bats

Have you ever seen the skull and crossbones or crossed swords of the Jolly Roger?

Mirroring the famed pirate flag, long objects crossed into an X have long been a common design motif. Crossed baseball bats could add an aggressive feel to your design, even if your team name doesn't relate to pirates.

With their long, flat shape, baseball bats also make good underlines to the name of a team or player.

Team Name, Location, and Logo

After all, these pins are made to represent your team.

Featuring your team's branding helps the fans that wear your pins root on the ballclub. They also help the people you trade pins with remember who you are and where you are from.

Season-Specific Features

Some teams only have a generic pin for their team. It's economical, as they can order a lot of them at once to supply the team's players for several seasons.

But other teams like to order new pins for each season. Each group of players has a unique pin to remember that specific squad.

What can you add to a pin to make it unique? One thing is the year. You can also include the names and numbers of each player on the team, which will likely change every year.

You can also order special pins after the season and make note of the team's accomplishments. You can include the win-loss record and any championships and titles won.

Sketch Your Idea

When you've found inspiration and come up with some ideas in your head, it's time to sketch out your design.

This can be intimidating for some. But you don't need to be a great artist to make a design.

You don't need fancy art tools or an expensive sketch pad to draw some concepts for your pin. Some of the best ideas were drafted on a napkin with an ordinary pen.

Your first drafts will be rough drafts. Don't worry about perfection with these, because the point is only to make a proof of concept.

You may go through several versions of your design before narrowing it down and producing something you truly like. Tinker and tweak until you've found what you're looking for.

For some, this might be the end of your designing. You can send your sketch to your pin maker, and their professional artists will create a more finalized version based on the work you've already done.

The manufacturer will perk up your design to meet their requirements, but the design and ideas will still be yours.

Make Your Pin With Digital Design Software

For more advanced and tech-savvy graphic designers, you may choose to take the designing a step further and make a final version of your design with a digital program.

Hardcore artists may have access to top industry software such as Photoshop and Illustrator through Adobe Creative Cloud. These programs are powerful, but also expensive.

Luckily, budget-friendly alternatives are also available. GIMP and Inkscape are popular graphics programs that are completely free. You can even pull off some fantastic designs with some clever use of PowerPoint.

Digital graphic design might be tricky for novices, but learning how to use editing programs gives you more power to create the perfect artwork for your pin.

Create Your Custom Trading Pins

Once you've created your designs, upload them and send them to the manufacturer. They'll turn your great design into real pins for your team to collect and trade.

Contact us today to get a free quote on your order of custom trading pins for your baseball team.

Baseball trading pins are one of the coolest things a baseball fanatic can own or trade. Here's a guide on why they are so cool, and where to get them.

Baseball is a beloved past time for many sports enthusiasts of all ages. It allows friends and family to gather for the sake of doing something fun. And, whether you enjoy watching the sport or you're always on the field, there is added pleasure in collecting baseball trading pins.

But, why are baseball pins so cool, you ask? We'll go into it with greater detail in a moment. For the time being, remember that being cool is all about being a good sport.

Baseball pins invoke camaraderie and team effort. They're also a good way to show off your team spirit. No matter how cool you want to be, starting a baseball trading pins collection is a good place to start.

If you're trying to learn more about why these little pins are so cool, you've come to the right place. In this article, we're providing you a little history and details to get you started on the coolest collection in town.

About Baseball Trading Pins

Baseball pins got their start in an unusual place back in the 1920s and 1930s. It was a Bakery in Rochester, NY, that started the tradition of trading pinback buttons that featured famous baseball players. Patrons received a pin with their favorite hometown heroes displayed with each loaf of bread purchased from the bakery.

The pins came in sets that were made in 1920, 1922, and 1933.

That's part of the excitement of collecting - you just might end up with one of these originals in your own collection someday!

History

Baseball itself is a timeless tradition that has roots as far back as the 1300s in France. Today, it's regarded as America's favorite sport after earning a rich history in the United States.

With baseball gaining in popularity around the turn of the 20th century, it became a profitable market for manufacturers and retail sellers. People that love baseball will inevitably buy baseball related products and collectibles. And so, baseball collector's pins got their start.

Value

Remember those original pins that started with the Bakery almost a hundred years ago? Those pins are worth some big bucks nowadays because they are rare and hard to find. There are other pins that have been popular through the years and thus carry a high value.

Your favorite pin is also your most valuable pin when it comes to trading time. And, you may even be keeping it because you think it could be worth some money someday.

If you become a serious collector, you could find some valuable pins along the way.

Why Trading Pins are So Cool

Besides the value and history of your favorite trading pins, they're so cool because they allow you to show off your pride in and for baseball. It's an awesome way to decorate your favorite hat or backpack. Get them in all the different styles to add variety to your collection.

There are four different styles of baseball pins to choose from:

Where to Get More Trading Pins

Now that you know how cool baseball pins really are, it's time to start your own collection. Even if you already have a collection going, you need to know where to get more pins and trade them, too.

Games

Of course, you'll already be at your favorite teams' baseball games or your own where other collectors are bound to hang out. Maybe you know some people on your own team, or even the opposing team, that collects pins. If you don't, ask around.

Asking around is a great way to get others to start collecting, too. This way, you'll have more people to trade with later on.

Trading Events

Ask around some more or look for local postings where 'pinheads', or other pin collectors meet up and talk about their pins and even trade with others.

You can start up your own trading events with friends and collectors that you meet. It won't be hard to start up a conversation about your pins if you wear them often. And, other collectors will be able to find you in a crowd.

Online

There are many collectors that trade pins via online forums and auctions. You can find local and international websites dedicated to helping collectors find the pins they're looking for.

Don't forget to work your social media channels, too. Social media networks are extremely expansive so that you may reach even more collectors.

Local Sports Shops

Local sports shops are best known for carrying your favorite sports memorabilia. So, make sure to ask them if people are looking for baseball pins. Maybe the shop even has a few that you're looking for.

Sports shops are great places to meet other fans and even if the shop doesn't have pins, there might be other collectors hanging out there anyway.

Trading Pins Are Fun to Collect

Whether you're trying to be the coolest collector in town or you just really love baseball, trading pins are fun to collect any time of the year. All you have to do is figure out what kind you like and get out there and find them. You'll be the talk of the team when you introduce others to this awesome past time.

Anything that is this fun is bound to be cool by most standards. It gives you a reason to connect with your friends and make new ones. And, of course, if you're lucky enough to find a gem, you could even make some money down the line.

If you're interested in trading pins, or if you have questions, contact us! Or, you can get a quote to jumpstart your collection, today.

Have you ever wondered where the tradition of trading and collecting trading pins began? Here's a brief look at the history of the trading pin.

Collectible trading pins have been around for over one hundred years and continue to be popular among sports fans, players, and collectors, alike. But, there's more to trading pins than simple trinkets that attract the eye. Trading pins as a pastime is just as much about tradition as it is about supporting your favorite team or sports players.

Knowing the history of the trading pin will only make you a more popular person to trade with. Not to mention that you'll feel a sense of connection to those that started the tradition and have a shot at becoming a part of history yourself.

If you've always wondered about the history of the trading pin, then you're in the right place. In this article we're discussing how it all began and why collecting baseball trading pins should be a priority for your team. Keep reading to learn more.

The History of the Trading Pin

Once you know all about the history of the trading pin, you can share your knowledge with other pin traders to help keep the tradition alive. The history is what makes it all so fun and exciting in the first place. And, regardless of your affiliation to the pastime, you'll be better equipped to find pins for yourself and your friends or family that make an impact on your collections.

In today's day and age, it's actually difficult to find a reason NOT to collect trading pins. Many sports teams from youth leagues to professional enterprises engage in creating, designing, and trading pins as a way to promote team spirit among players and fans. Some people trade pins solely as a hobby, even if they don't usually participate in the events for which the trading pins are made.

Origins

Many baseball pin traders have probably heard the story about how trading pins got their start. For baseball, in particular, it began in the 1920s in Rochester, New York when a local bakery began distributing pinback buttons featuring local baseball players. The bakery offered the pins in four-packs for collection or trade.

But, the real origin of the trading pin itself began at the end of the 19th century in Athens, Greece. It was the first Olympic games where athletes, judges, and officials all wore different cardboard discs with multiple colors to identify themselves. Wearing, distributing, and trading such type pins eventually evolved into the custom that we know today.

Exclusivity

When the first Olympic Village opened in Paris in 1924, trading pins grew in popularity because athletes had more frequent contact with each other and officials. Each country featured its own pin. It was not long after that spectators took an interest in trading pins and collections which eventually urged Olympic organizers to limit the number of pins produced in order to maintain exclusivity.

By now, it was 1948 and pin trading and collecting was becoming a popular hobby. Sports fans began organizing their own trading events and the tradition took off with great enthusiasm.

Coca-Cola

In 1988, Coca-Cola saw an opportunity to get in on the fun and set up an official pin trading center at the Olympic Winter Games in Calgary. This was the first time a corporation became involved with pin trading and it was a great success. Some people arrived at the Games just for the pin trading rather than to watch any sports.

Ever since Coca-Cola's promotion and dedication to pin trading started, it has become known as the number one spectator sport at the Olympic Games. There are now thousands of designs and millions of pins and collectors found throughout the world.

Disney

Disneyland parks have always carried pins for their guests to purchase and collect. But, it wasn't until the Millennium Celebration in 1999 when pin trading was introduced at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. The Disneyland Resort in California soon followed.

Now pin trading is popular at Disneyland Parks worldwide. This was the first time in history that a corporation unaffiliated with sports became involved with the tradition of trading pins and it has been a great success. Each branch of Disney, including Disney Cruise Lines, has their own pins and trading traditions.

Why Do People Collect and Trade Pins

Many pin traders, known as pinheads, started their collections by finding trading pins that they really love. These can be pins that are colorful and made with soft enamel to photo-etched pins that depict their favorite sports players. They started trading as a way to broaden their collections as well as make new friends.

Whether you enjoy sports as a player or a fan, or you're just intrigued by the many different types and styles of pins, it's a good reason to collect and trade. You'll not only have fun, but you'll also have something to brag about when your collection takes off.

Make a game of it in itself and see how many pins you can collect in a given year or season. Think of your friends when you're trading so that you'll have something to share with them when you find a pin that they've been looking for. Best of all, create a tradition in your family that's sure to last for generations.

Trading Sports Pins

The tradition of collecting pins is a pastime for many that enjoy sports and other events like scholarly competitions. Some pins even hold significant value depending on how old they are and how many are in circulation. If you're lucky, you may find rare pins that not only add value to your collection but also motivates other pinheads to trade with you.

Trading sports pins is all about camaraderie on and off the playing the field. Whether you're a player or a fan, trading pins is a great way to make lasting friendships. You may even build your own network of pinheads to trade with on a regular basis so that your collection remains diverse and up to date at all times.

If you want to be a part of the history of the trading pin and start your own collection, feel free to contact us! We've been manufacturing and distributing baseball trading pins since 2003 and we look forward to helping you get involved with this timeless tradition.

Looking to make your own custom trading pin? We can help,. Fill out our online form to begin!

 

Wanna swap? Pin fanatics celebrate Little League the only way they know how- with pins! Trading baseball pins is a hobby with its own unique history and following. Read on to learn

1. The Olympic Connection

The Olympic pin tradition began with the small cardboard badges worn by athletes and officials at the first modern Olympics in 1896. They traded these items as a gesture of goodwill between competing nationalities. Later, official badges and medals were created specifically for athletes and others to trade.

Baseball at the Summer Olympics unofficially debuted at the 1904 Summer Games, in St. Louis, MO. and with it, the pin trading obsession officially began.

At the 1908 games in Paris, different pin styles designated specific groups like media professionals or judges. By 1912, a specific pin was created as a spectator souvenir. By 1924 in Paris pin trading was expected between athletes and officials as a way to represent goodwill between nations.

More than 1 million pins were sold in preparation for the 1936 Berlin Games. Especially rare are pins from the 1940 games, as they were canceled. 1952 saw 218 variations of the participants' pins produced. 1960 brought the first corporate sponsored pins. The 1980 Moscow games firmly established a souvenir pin trading culture- with those pins being exceedingly rare and valuable in the U.S.

The pin-trading tradition was firmly established in 1980's with official trading stations and corporate sets. Because pins are portable, affordable, and diverse they became extremely popular by the 1984 Olympic Games, with nearly 17 million made for trading fans. Coca-Cola and the Hard Rock Cafe sponsored their own swap days and venues, establishing a tradition of pin trading separate from the sports action.

Baseball also made its return to the Olympic Games after a 20-year hiatus in 1984 and with it baseball trading pins. Very popular? Sam the Eagle (the 1984 mascot) swinging a bat.

1988 saw the establishment of the official Coca-Cola pin trading venue and the recognition of the Olympic trading pin to the International Olympic Committee marketing plan for future games.

2. There's a Special Etiquette for Trading

Certain days and venues are scheduled at many events specifically for baseball pin trading. Baseball trading pins are specifically created for each team, tournament, and event. Some pins are very much in demand due to design, scarcity or novelty. Individuals often create unique pins just for trade.

Wear your trades. People who collect usually wear a hat, scarf, vest or shirt to display their pins to swap.

Look, but don't touch (unless invited.) If you want to take a closer look at a baseball trading pin, please use your eyes, not your fingers, especially when the pin is attached to a person.

Negotiations are among equals. If you want to get a pin from another collector, you must present a pin or pins of equal value to that person.

Start a conversation. Introduce yourself and offer one of your pins in trade for the one that you want.

Continue a conversation. Offer information about your interesting pins that others may find interesting. That way, the history of certain pins isn't lost.

Please don't interrupt a trade in progress. Wait until they are finished, and then approach the person.

Remain friendly! Call off a trade if there are raised tempers.

At the end of a deal, shake hands and say, "Thank you," to properly close.

In game tradition. Since the issuing of the first official Little League World Series pin in 1983, at the end of each tournament game, in the handshake line, players trade a commemorative baseball trading pin with a member of the opposing team. This allows players from each team to take away a reminder of their opponent and the Little League memories they experienced together. Along the way, each player may also receive recognition pins for representing their district or region.

All-Star and other Little League events are often centers of pin trading as players barter for rare or innovative pins.

In some trading venues, there are senior pin collectors and traders mingling with youngsters. In other places, unexpected swaps were happening where young people feared to tread. Late night launderers washing uniforms at last year's Little League World Series found themselves with the rare (and hilarious) washing board pin. Hotels, Wegman's and even Dunkin Donuts got in on the fun, each offering their own pin to start swaps.

3. There's No Cutoff Age

The trading tents might be crowded with kids making their first trades and savvy 8-year-olds with a few dozen pins, then there are the big collectors.

Jay Freeman, owner the Natural Energy Utility Corporation and 17 year Little League umpire and usher has been making Little League mascot Dugout pins for more than a decade. He made a pin to reflect each of her 13 different outfits.

Freeman designs his baseball trading pins every year and sends them off to be produced. He creates more than 20 new designs out of his own pocket annually and trades them away by the pocketful. He has a collection of more than 15,000 that grows by three or four thousand each year.

Collector Frank Cataldi has amassed more than 120,000 baseball trading pins since 1979 and is still present in at the Little League World Series each year for trading. He also designs and produces special pins just for trading each year.

Cataldi admits an Olympic connection, as his first entry into collecting was with a 1964 Olympic pin given to him by Olympic gold medalist and Super Bowl Champion Robert Lee "Bullet Bob" Hayes.

11-year veteran Lloyd Vollmuth makes an annual pilgrimage to Williamsport for the Little League World Series specifically for pin trading. The pride of his collection is the pin collected by his son, more than 20 years ago.

Pin trading is easily adopted by youngsters too, with teams bringing their own custom baseball trading pins to tournaments. Even the smallest t-ball player masters the basics of the swap. Last year's Little League World Series champs Kitasuna, Tokyo, Japan came away with incredible memories of their final game, and a few hundred pins.

Check out our collection of pins and let's get started on a design for your swap! Call us at 1-888-998-1746 or fill out our form for a free quote!

Hello Pin Traders! Today’s post talks about another one of our most frequently asked questions: How many baseball trading pins should we buy for our team?

The goal in buying baseball trading pins is to maximize the fun and memories your kids will share during pin trading, while minimizing the amount of cost to mom and dad. Unfortunately, most tournaments don’t provide you with guidelines when it comes to buying sports pins

A rule of thumb we’ve developed over the years after getting feedback from parents post tournament is the following:

(# of kids on your team) x (number of teams in the tournament) + 5-10%.

Theoretically, this gives every kid on your team the opportunity to trade with every team in the tournament, or come away with a full set per say. A few reasons for the 5-10% extra:

1) Parents recommend having a few for younger siblings to trade, happy kids = happy parents.

2) Kids will want a couple extra to give or trade with friends.

3) Always good to have a couple extra to make up for lost pins, kids do the darndest things

There are not many reasons to buy more than this equation, the only instance we see is with a team that knows it will be playing in multiple tournaments.

There are however a few reasons to buy less.

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To learn about a few proven design methods that will allow you to buy less without necessary having to fork over more cost per pin, check out another article of ours on pin tradability

To find out more about trading pins, click the red ‘Get Pricing Now’ button below, or give us a call at 888-998-1746 to get started on your teams design today!

Baseball Trading Pins Pricing

Hello Pin Traders! Today’s post talks about one of our most frequently asked questions: What’s the difference between all the baseball trading pin styles that we offer?

As you’ve seen on our website there are 3 common types of Pins: Soft Enamel, Offset Printed, and Quick Pins. Let’s take a quick dive into each so you can make the right decision for your team.

baseball trading pin styles

Let’s start with Soft Enamel Trading Pins

The Official name is Die Struck Soft Enamel, ‘Die Struck’ coming from the manufacturing process in which a custom die (with your pin design machined into the surface) strikes strips of iron metal to produce your individual pins 1 by 1.

Some Quick Facts on Soft Enamel:

Offset Printed Pins

Although less common than Soft Enamel, Offset Printed Baseball Pins have three advantages customers find versus soft enamel:

  1. They’re made quicker -10 days or less
  2. They cost less – typically 20-50 cents per pin less
  3. And they offer more design flexibility – no lines needed to separate colors

With our experienced design staff, we’ll make sure they trade just as well as soft enamel!

baseball trading pin styles

Here are some Quick Facts on Offset Printed Pins:

Quick Pins

As the name suggests, Quick Pins offer the convenience of a quick turnaround, made right here in the USA. If you’re in need of pins the same week, we’ve got you covered. Facts on Quick Pins:

To Summarize, Soft Enamel Pins are the most common & popular trading pins, Offset Printed Pins are perfect for times tight on time or budget but unwilling to sacrifice on look or quality, and Quick Pins are available to get you out of a time pinch for pins.

To find out more about these pins, click the red ‘Get Pricing Now’ button below, or give us a call at 888-998-1746 to get started on your teams design today!

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