You Know What’s Cool? Little League Pins That Look Like Packs Of 1954 Bowman Baseball Cards

With the cancellation of the 2020 Little League World Series, I’ve been looking around for some alternative sources to obtain new pins this year.  eBay has always been an option, but the Little League Pin Traders Club group on Facebook can be an equal or even better source.

Everyday collectors are posting pictures of their pins looking to trade.  Upon joining, I came to realize how many pins I didn’t know existed.  That’s the thing about Little League pins.  You can go many years without knowing that certain pins exist.  There is no official release date and/or checklist.  In addition to that, the quantities are all different.

Did you know there are some Little League pins that look just like packs of old baseball cards?  Organizing a trade using one of my Sports Card Info pins, I was able to obtain (2) pins that look like packs of 1954 Bowman Baseball.  One of them is green, and the other is red.

These pins aren’t small either.  They’re made of metal, and are about the size of a normal pack of cards.  High-quality and very heavy.  I had no clue they existed until I joined this group.  Other baseball card pack pins I’ve seen include 1952 Bowman Baseball and 1963 Topps Baseball.

Its interesting when the sports card hobby collides with the pin collecting world.

More Photos From The 2018 National + Cool Idea!

I can only speak for myself, but the 2018 National Sports Collectors Convention has got to be one of the best shows I’ve ever attended.  According to the National, it had the best attendance they’ve seen in the last twelve years.  PSA also mentioned that they had a record number of submissions during the show too.  Records were being broken all over the place.  It was quite the spectacle to see.

Cleveland continues to be my favorite location.  I’ve been to seven Nationals, and four of them have been at the I-X Center.  Its easy to get to, not in the city, and I usually can park near the entrance.  The National takes place in Chicago at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center next year July 31 to August 4, 2019.  As much as I enjoy the National, I don’t plan on going to Chicago.  I hate to miss it, but I do not enjoy the process of flying or driving twelve hours.  The next National I’m looking to attend is in Atlantic City in 2020.  I was there in 2016, and things worked out fairly well.  Given the attendance seen this year, once the Atlantic City show is over I wouldn’t be surprised if it just alternates between Chicago and Cleveland for awhile.

In my opinion, Leaf and Topps had the superior wrapper redemption programs.  I did nothing with Upper Deck or Panini.  Topps does a nice job with their exclusive Bowman Chrome refractors.  Leaf had a huge hit with their 2018 In The Game Used Sports boxes.  At the show, these were selling for $160-$165 per box.  Now they go for $270.  The Leaf Originals Metal promos that you’d receive for opening boxes at their booth have also gained a lot of traction on the secondary market.

I have a cool idea.  Wouldn’t it be fun to see a remote controlled blimp flying around the National?  I’ve seen them before at hockey games randomly dropping coupons.  It could fly over the crowd and drop packs to sports collectors below.  Each day a different manufacturer could sponsor the packs being dropped.  Who wouldn’t want some exclusive blimp parallels?  How about mounting a camera on it too?  I bet it would even have it’s own Twitter account.  I can see this idea really “taking off”.

Although the National has been over for a month, I’d like to share some photos I didn’t post on my Day #1, Day #2, and Day #3 coverage.  There are a few aerial shots.  Pictures like that always remind me of Where’s Waldo.  You never know what you might see.  Who knows?  You could be in there.

Bill Belichick 2002 Super Bowl XXXVI Game-Worn Headset.  You can hear everything with this.  I mean EVERYTHING.

Rob Bertrand of Go GTS Live handing out prizes.

Behind the TRISTAR curtain.

“Pin-Up” of the Week: 2014 MLB All-Star Game Joe Cool Pin

The 85th MLB All-Star Game takes place in Minneapolis, MN this summer.  Its about two months away, but you can easily find merchandise for it already.  Peanuts creator Charles Schulz is from Minneapolis and is the reason why some of this year’s All-Star Game stuff features characters from his famous comic.  One of the pins shows Snoopy (Joe Cool) wearing his dark sunglasses while leaning against the wall just hanging out.  They also made one with Charlie Brown.  Snoopy has a crazy imagination.  Outside of his fantasy life he plays shortstop for Charlie Brown’s team.  He almost past Babe Ruth on the all-time career home run list, plus he’s great at catching balls in his mouth.

You can add this pin to your collection for $8.00.

A Cool Contest Winner Announced

Congrats to Shane. K on being the winner of the Peter Budaj 2010-2011 All Goalies Stopper Sweaters Jersey card.  Once Shane. K sends me their mailing address I will ship this card out ASAP.  Thanks.

A Cool Contest! – NOW CLOSED

Its warm out.  So why not cool off by trying to win this Peter Budaj 2010-2011 All Goalies Stopper Sweaters Jersey card.  Good luck!!!

Contest Details:

• This contest will end Friday, July  15, 2011 @ 8:00 p.m. EST
• To enter, please leave a comment in this post
• You can enter once per day
• The winner will be selected at random
• Please provide a valid e-mail address when entering
• The winner will receive an e-mail when the contest is over
• Once the contest is over, I will need the winner’s mailing address so I can ship them this card for FREE!!!

Cool Collectible: Pin Relics

I’m sure by now most of you know that I am a huge pin collector, especially sports pins.  Thats why I got excited why I saw this 2008 All-Star Game pin containing infield dirt from Yankee Stadium.  This is the only pin I’ve ever seen that has a relic inside.  These were only given to members of the media during last year’s All-Star Game.  I wonder if bloggers fall in that category 🙂  Pins like this can get a little expensive.  Online they sell for about $50.00 but I’ve seen one at a show for $125.00.  It seems like relics can be inserted into anything.  This is definitely one cool collectible.

What a cool name – “Rex Hudler”

There have been a lot of baseball players with cool names, but Rex Hudler has to be one of my favorites.  I actually met him once back in the late 90’s at my first Phillies Caravan in Harrisburg, PA.  I remember it so well because while waiting in line to get autographs, one of the employees of the Phillies came up to me and asked if I would like to go upstairs to visit with the Phillies instead of waiting in the very long line.  I said “sure”, and we made our way up the elevator.  In the media room the Phillies were in I met John Vukovich, Mike Lieberthal, Wayne Gomes, and Rex Hudler.  That was the day I became a huge Phillies fan.  The name Rex Hudler just sounds like a baseball player’s name.  I wish they wouldn’t made more cards of him.  He has an autographed card from 1996 Leaf Signature.  I know for a fact they never made any memorabilia cards.  Over his 14 years as a professional, he had a batting average of .261, 461 hits, and 56 HR’s.