It was a busy June in All-Star Game ball collecting…or not. There were seven games but sadly only three leagues used special balls: the California, Carolina, and Midwest Leagues. You can see the Cali and Midwest balls here; I’m still waiting for somebody at the Frederick Keys to get back to me.
One thing of note: both the Cali and MWL balls aren’t league balls, they are MiLB baseballs, complete with MiLB prez Pat O’Conner’s stamp. I believe in the past that the host team, or at least the individual leagues, paid for the special league baseballs. If the Head Office is now footing the bill, does that explain why there are (so far) fewer special game balls? I hope not, it’s a disappointing trend.
On to July! This month there are five pro games. They are listed below, along with the host team. Again, an asterisk indicates that no special ball was commissioned. Right now I’m assuming they all use one unless I find out otherwise, so keep checking back for updates.
July 10
Atlantic League; York Revolution
Can/Am-Frontier Leagues; Rockland Boulders
Eastern League; Richmond Flying Squirrels
Triple-A (PCL vs. IL); El Paso Chihuahuas
July 23
American Association; St. Paul Saints
There are also some collegiate leagues putting on ASGs: the United Shore Professional League will kick it off on July 6th at Jimmy John’s Field north of Detroit; the Savannah Bananas will host the Coastal Plain League festivities on July 8; and the Waterloo Bucks will do the honors for the Northwoods League on July 16th.