Time flies

This month marks the 10th anniversary of this website. Originally meant just for me to keep easy track of my burgeoning collection, it has become a reference and a resource for collectors all over. It’s also enabled me to meet and interact with fellow minor league enthusiasts, for which I’m eternally grateful. Thank you all for your patronage, friendship, and help over the years. Here’s to another ten!

September also means the end of the minor league season so a recap is in order. The 2026 season saw gamers from a couple of independent leagues, and was bookended by the return of special event gamers to MiLB.

In April the Richmond Flying Squirrels (Double-A Eastern League) moved into a new ballpark, Carmax Field, and celebrated with not one but two balls: an Inaugural Game ball, used in the home opener on 4/7, and an Inaugural Season ball, used during the rest of the first homestand.

Among independents, the Pecos League once again produced two All-Star Game baseballs, one for each division, while the United Professional Baseball League had a change of sponsor, and thus debuted a new regular-season ball with their new logo. This is the second season in a row that the USPBL has featured a new regular-season ball; they played with a “10 Seasons” ball in 2025.

Finally, the Springfield Cardinals (Double-A Texas League) announced a rebranding for the 2027 season, and so commissioned a commemorative game ball for their final homestand as the Cardinals. This one is interesting, as the logo is on the east panel rather than the south panel as is traditional, and it’s in Navy blue ink rather than the lighter blue ink used on the official MiLB ball.

We’ve posed this question before: does this mean we could see a return to All-Star Game and post-season balls to MiLB? Hopefully in the next ten years we’re gonna need a bigger museum.

-Tony Baseballs