Old Eagle Eye missed some details

Last time I said there was a new MiLB commemorative gamer available from the Richmond Flying Squirrels, and even posted bits from their X announcement. I saw what I thought was the same ball on eBay, but I didn’t look closely enough: turns out there are TWO new gamers!

Thanks to a tip from Friend of The Museum (FoTM) Tyler, we are now aware of a second commemorative gamer from the Squirrels! The one we posted last time has “Inaugural Season” on it. The second ball is for the Inaugural Game, complete with the date of April 7, 2026 in the design.

Currently the team is sold out of the Inaugural Game balls, but even so, they didn’t sell them online nor by phone, only at the stadium. The Game ball was used on April 7 (confirmed by someone who attended the game and picked up a foul ball) and the Season ball was used for the rest of their first homestand. AFAIK the Inaugural Season balls are still available for sale by phone, so call the team store and get yours quickly before those are gone too!

What’s funny is that not long ago I picked up a 2015 Atlantic League All-Star Game ball because I noticed a small detail (the Atl Lg logo on the south panel was surrounded by text, “Cushioned Cork Center”, that I’d not seen since they began stamping the league logo on the balls). But now I missed a rather obvious detail for the Squirrels balls. Needless to say, I’ll be double- and triple-checking everything from now on!

I would also like to publicly thank Tyler for keeping his eyes and ears open and for alerting me to my oversight. It warms my heart when we collectors look out for each other. Thank you, Tyler!

Look for both of these balls to be added to the Museum within the next couple of weeks.

-Tony Baseballs

Breaking news! The Richmond Flying Squirrels of the Double-A Eastern League announced this week the first commemorative game ball since those planned for the ill-fated 2020 season.

The team opens the 2026 season in a new ballpark, Carmax Park, with their First Flight campaign, a week-long celebration of their new home and redesigned logo. They’ve commissioned a special gamer to be used in all games on the first homestand. See the team’s Instagram announcement here.

From the announcement: “You could be lucky enough to snag one for yourself from game action or grab one in the Squirrels Nest Team Store starting tomorrow, April 7 as an in-stadium exclusive.” We have confirmed that the team store will ship them, so order yours now!

The ball looks great, featuring a minimal logo design and the lighter blue ink adopted with the redesigned MiLB logo from last year. This one snuck up on us here at the museum, we were unaware of any new MiLB commemoratives for 2026 and we couldn’t be more excited!

Let’s hope this heralds a return to the use of MiLB commemorative gamers. Keep your eyes open!

-Tony Baseballs