World Series Commemorative Game Baseballs (1978-2008)
1978 - The first year that MLB used a special ball for the World Series and the 75th Anniversary of World Series play. The New York Yankees defeated the Dodgers 4 games to 2 for their 22nd World Championship. Bucky Dent was named MVP.
1979 – 76th Anniversary of World Series play. The Pirates defeated the Orioles 4 games to 3 for their 5th World Championship and Willie Stargell was voted MVP.
1980 - 1st World Series Championship for the Philadelphia Phillies as they defeated the Kansas City Royals 4 games to 2. Tug McGraw and Mike Schmidt were voted Co-MVP. Philadelphia had 5 other World Series Champions as the Philadelphia Athletics between 1910-1930.
1981 – 4th World Series Championship for the Los Angeles Dodgers who defeated the New York Yankees 4 games to 2. Ron Cey was voted MVP.
1982 – 9th World Series Championship for the St. Louis Cardinals who defeated the Milwaukee Brewers 4 games to 3. Bruce Sutter and Darrell Porter were voted co- MVP's.
1983 – 3rd World Series Championship for the Baltimore Orioles who defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 4 games to 1. Rick Dempsey was voted MVP.
1984 – 4th World Series championship for the Detroit Tigers as they defeat the San Diego Padres 4 games to 1. Jack Morris and Allen Trammell were the Co-MVP's.
1985 – 1st and only World Championship for the Kansas City Royals as they defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 4 games to 3. Brett Saberhagen was voted MVP.
1986 – 2nd World Series Championship for the Mets who defeated the Boston Red Sox 4 games to 3 in the infamous Game 6 Bill Buckner/Mookie Wilson ground ball. Ray Knight was voted MVP. 1987 – 1st World Series championship for the Minnesota Twins as they defeat the St. Louis Cardinals 4 games to 3. Frank Viola was voted MVP.
1988 – 5th World Series Championship for the Los Angeles Dodgers who defeated the Oakland Athletics 4 games to 1. Orel Herschiser was voted MVP.
1989 – 4th World Series Championship and 1st since their three consecutive wins (1972-1974) as the Oakland A's defeat the San Francisco Giants 4 games to 0. Dave Stewart was the MVP.
1990 – 5th World Series Championship for the Cincinnati Reds who defeated the Oakland Athletics 4 games to 0. Billy Hatcher and Jose Rijo were voted co- MVPs.
1991 – 2nd World Series Championship for the Minnesota Twins as they defeat the Atlanta Braves 4 games to 3. Jack Morris was voted MVP.
1992 – The first World Series ever played outside of the United States. The Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Atlanta Braves 4 games to 2 for their first World Series Championship. Dave Winfield and Pat Borders were voted co MVPs.
1993 – Back-to-Back Championships for the Toronto Blue Jays as they defeat the Philadelphia Phillies 4 games to 2. Paul Molitor was voted MVP.
1994 - The World Series that never was. These Historic baseballs were made to be used in the 1994 World Series when the players went out on strike…..Leaving the fans without the World Series, and Rawlings with a surplus of baseballs.
1995 – The Atlanta Braves defeated the Cleveland Indians 4 games to 2 to capture its 3rd World Championship in franchise history (along with 1914 in Boston and 1957 in Milwaukee), making them the first franchise to win three crowns in three different cities. Tom Glavine was the MVP. 1996 – 23rd World Series Championship for the New York Yankees as they defeated the defending champion Atlanta Braves. This was the first time that the World Series and Olympics were hosted by the same city. John Wettland was voted MVP.
1997 – 1st World Series Championship for the Florida Marlins who defeated the Cleveland Indians 4 games to 3. This was the first time in history that a wild card team had ever won the World Series. Livan Hernandez was voted MVP.
1998 – 24th World Series Championship for the New York Yankees who defeated the San Diego Padres 4 games to 0. For the first time the same city, San Diego, hosted both the SuperBowl and the final World Series game in the same year. Not only were they held in the same city, they were both held in the same stadium. Scott Brosius was voted MVP.
1999 – 25th World Series Championship for the New York Yankees as they defeat the Atlanta Braves 4 games to 0. Mariano Rivera was the MVP.
2000 – 26th World Series Championship and Champions for the 3rd year in a row as the New York Yankees defeated the New York Mets in the Subway Series. Derek Jeter was voted MVP.
2001 – (Pre 9/11) This is the ball that was to be used for the World Series before 9/11. The ball was changed, prior to the start of the series to a more “patriotic” version, and production was stopped on this version making it the rarest of all World Series balls.
2001 – (Post 9/11) 1st World Series Championship for the Arizona Diamondbacks who defeated the New York Yankees 4 games to 3. This was the first World Series game to ever be played in the State of Arizona. Due to the postponement of games in September as a result of the 9/11 attacks, the World Series began Saturday, October 27, 2001, the latest start date ever for a World Series. The Series went seven games, the last three of which were the first major-league games played in the month of November. Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling were co MVP’s.
2002 - 1st World Series Championship for the Anaheim Angels who defeated the San Francisco Giants 4 games to 3. Troy Glaus was voted MVP. This was the first time in MLB history (since inception of the “wild card” in 1995) that 2 wild card teams were vying for the World Series Championship. This year was a very short print run on the World Series game baseballs and they are very difficult to find.
2003 – 100th Anniversary of the World Series (However, it was only the 99th event due to the strike cancelling the 1994 World Series) found the Florida Marlins defeating the New York Yankees 4 games to 2 for their 2nd World Series Championship. Josh Beckett was voted the MVP. This was also the first year that NL/AL home field advantage was determined by the MLB All-Star Game victor.
2004 – The actual 100th anniversary of World Series play found the Boston Red Sox ending the 86 year curse by defeating the St. Louis Cardinals 4 games to 0 to become World Champions for the 6th time. Manny Ramirez was voted the MVP. This was also the 3rd World Series in a row won by a wild card team.
2005 – The Chicago White Sox defeated the wild card Houston Astros 4 games to 0 to end their 88 year drought and become World Champions for the 3rd time. Jermaine Dye was voted MVP. The Houston Astros were making their first World Series appearance in 44 years.
2006 – 10th World Series Championship for the St. Louis Cardinals who defeated the Detroit Tigers 4 games to 1. David Eckstein was voted the MVP. The Cardinals, who moved into the new Busch Stadium in April, became the fourth team to win the Series in their home stadium's debut season.
2007 – 7th World Series Championship for the Boston Red Sox as they defeated the Colorado Rockies 4 games to 0. Mike Lowell was voted MVP. The Colorado Rockies were making their first World Series appearance.
2008 – 2nd World Series Championship for the Philadelphia Phillies as they defeated the Tamp Bay Rays 4 games to 1. Cole Hamels was voted MVP. The Tampa Bay Rays were making their first World Series appearance and this was the first time since 2001 that a wild card team was not in the World Series.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Facts About The Rawlings Official Major League Baseball (ROMLB)
Supplied exclusively by Rawlings® for over a quarter-century, each ball comes carefully crafted, weighed, measured, tested, inspected, and re-inspected. 5 ounces and 108 v-shaped stitches of absolute perfection.
Rawlings Sporting Goods started manufacturing baseballs in 1955 when Spalding bought it out. Both the American and National League balls were made by the same company though the American League balls were stamped with the Rawlings name and the National League balls were stamped with the Spalding name. In 1968 Spalding was forced to sell Rawlings after an anti-trust investigation but continued to contract Rawlings to manufacture baseballs until 1973. In 1976 Rawlings raised its baseball profile when it replaced Spalding as the supplier to the major leagues and started manufacturing baseballs for Major League Baseball producing a ball for the American League and one for the National League. In 2000 Rawlings started making the ROMLB for both leagues. The ROMLB is the official baseball and is the same ball used during each major league game.
Rawlings opened a baseball manufacturing plant in Costa Rica in 1987 and closed its Haitian factory in 1990 because of political instability. Costa Rica produces 80,000 dozen major league game balls a year, not counting additional special ones for the World Series, All-Star Game and other Special Event Baseballs. , Minor league baseballs are made at the Rawlings plant in China. Rawlings was, in 1979, the chief source of baseballs for the amateur market, accounting for about one-third of the annual sale of some 1.2 million dozen baseballs.
Today, instructions call for a cork nucleus that weighs exactly 0.5 oz and is 2.86 to 2.94 inches in diameter. It is to be incased in two thin rubber layers - one black, one red - and weigh a total of 7/8 oz. This nucleus is then machine-wound under high, consistent tension with 121 yards of four-ply blue-gray wool, 45 yards of three-ply white wool yarn, 53 more yards of three-ply blue-gray wool yarn and 150 yards of fine white polyester-cotton blend yarn. This is coated with rubber cement before the cover is put on. The cover consists of two pieces of elongated figure-eight-shaped white cowhide, dampened to permit stretching, which is then hand stitched together, using 88 inches of red cotton thread. Finally, the ball is rolled for 15 seconds while still slightly damp so the seams are even and reasonable flat. It takes about 10 minutes for a stitcher to sew the 108 stitches on each baseball. The first and last stitches are perfectly hidden.
At this point, the balls are still not ready for the big league. Balls are selected at random from each shipment and shot from an air cannon at 85 feet per second at a wall made of northern white ash (the wood used to make bats). Each tested ball must bounce back at between 0.514 and 0.578 of its original speed to be suitably lively for Major League Baseball.
The cowhides for the cover are checked for 17 different defects...stretch marks, tick bites, barbwire marks, etc. The leather is testedfor tensile strength and sent to the Rawlings-owned Tennessee Tanningfactory in Tullahoma. There, the leather is alum tanned, which givesit the white color, and cut in a figure 8. Two pieces make one cover,and the cover is double stitched by hand using 10/5 red thread.Completed balls are tested for strict compliance with standards and are retested after being shipped to the States. Balls that make the cut are sent to the majors, and those that don't are sold on the retail market.
6-7 dozen baseballs are used in a typical Major League game. The average life of a baseball in the Majors is 6 pitches.
The terms "live" and "dead" have been applied to baseballs for more than 100 years. In the early years, the home team was often expected to provide the ball, and a good hitting team might wind its balls tightly, for a "lively" effect, while a team of defensive specialists might create looser, softer, or "dead" balls.
In 1857 the length of a game was set at nine innings, pitching was underarm from a distance of 45 feet and the batter was out if a fielder caught the ball on the first bounce.
In 1978 Rawlings began manufacturing the rawlings world series ball with distinctive trademarked logos. These baseballs can be produced for 3 years following the event, upon expiration of this term the baseballs can no longer be produced.
Supplied exclusively by Rawlings® for over a quarter-century, each ball comes carefully crafted, weighed, measured, tested, inspected, and re-inspected. 5 ounces and 108 v-shaped stitches of absolute perfection.
Rawlings Sporting Goods started manufacturing baseballs in 1955 when Spalding bought it out. Both the American and National League balls were made by the same company though the American League balls were stamped with the Rawlings name and the National League balls were stamped with the Spalding name. In 1968 Spalding was forced to sell Rawlings after an anti-trust investigation but continued to contract Rawlings to manufacture baseballs until 1973. In 1976 Rawlings raised its baseball profile when it replaced Spalding as the supplier to the major leagues and started manufacturing baseballs for Major League Baseball producing a ball for the American League and one for the National League. In 2000 Rawlings started making the ROMLB for both leagues. The ROMLB is the official baseball and is the same ball used during each major league game.
Rawlings opened a baseball manufacturing plant in Costa Rica in 1987 and closed its Haitian factory in 1990 because of political instability. Costa Rica produces 80,000 dozen major league game balls a year, not counting additional special ones for the World Series, All-Star Game and other Special Event Baseballs. , Minor league baseballs are made at the Rawlings plant in China. Rawlings was, in 1979, the chief source of baseballs for the amateur market, accounting for about one-third of the annual sale of some 1.2 million dozen baseballs.
Today, instructions call for a cork nucleus that weighs exactly 0.5 oz and is 2.86 to 2.94 inches in diameter. It is to be incased in two thin rubber layers - one black, one red - and weigh a total of 7/8 oz. This nucleus is then machine-wound under high, consistent tension with 121 yards of four-ply blue-gray wool, 45 yards of three-ply white wool yarn, 53 more yards of three-ply blue-gray wool yarn and 150 yards of fine white polyester-cotton blend yarn. This is coated with rubber cement before the cover is put on. The cover consists of two pieces of elongated figure-eight-shaped white cowhide, dampened to permit stretching, which is then hand stitched together, using 88 inches of red cotton thread. Finally, the ball is rolled for 15 seconds while still slightly damp so the seams are even and reasonable flat. It takes about 10 minutes for a stitcher to sew the 108 stitches on each baseball. The first and last stitches are perfectly hidden.
At this point, the balls are still not ready for the big league. Balls are selected at random from each shipment and shot from an air cannon at 85 feet per second at a wall made of northern white ash (the wood used to make bats). Each tested ball must bounce back at between 0.514 and 0.578 of its original speed to be suitably lively for Major League Baseball.
The cowhides for the cover are checked for 17 different defects...stretch marks, tick bites, barbwire marks, etc. The leather is testedfor tensile strength and sent to the Rawlings-owned Tennessee Tanningfactory in Tullahoma. There, the leather is alum tanned, which givesit the white color, and cut in a figure 8. Two pieces make one cover,and the cover is double stitched by hand using 10/5 red thread.Completed balls are tested for strict compliance with standards and are retested after being shipped to the States. Balls that make the cut are sent to the majors, and those that don't are sold on the retail market.
6-7 dozen baseballs are used in a typical Major League game. The average life of a baseball in the Majors is 6 pitches.
The terms "live" and "dead" have been applied to baseballs for more than 100 years. In the early years, the home team was often expected to provide the ball, and a good hitting team might wind its balls tightly, for a "lively" effect, while a team of defensive specialists might create looser, softer, or "dead" balls.
In 1857 the length of a game was set at nine innings, pitching was underarm from a distance of 45 feet and the batter was out if a fielder caught the ball on the first bounce.
In 1978 Rawlings began manufacturing the rawlings world series ball with distinctive trademarked logos. These baseballs can be produced for 3 years following the event, upon expiration of this term the baseballs can no longer be produced.
Friday, December 26, 2008
The History of the World Series
Before the birth of the World Series in 1903, there were other postseason championships that took place as early as 1884. Although they are not officially recognized as part of World Series history, they provide a basis for the establishment of what has become recognized as "The Fall Classic".
The Fall Classic has provided us with many magical moments. The first World Series, in 1903, was a best-of-nine affair arranged between the champions of the older National League (founded in 1876) and the American League. The AL's Boston Pilgrims upset the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5 games to 3.
The 1904 NL champion New York Giants refused to play Boston the following year, so there was no Series. But the league presidents ironed out their differences, and the Series resumed in 1905, when the Giants agreed to play Philadelphia in a best-of-seven game series.
Since then the World Series has followed the best-of-seven format, except from 1919-21, when it returned briefly to best-of-nine.
As for the World Series Baseballs…..it has pretty much been 1 standard game baseball per year from 1978-1999 (with variations in the stamping color). In 2000 the stamping color changed to an all gold layout (the red stitching remained the same) which has remained that way through 2008. In 2000 Rawlings produced a commemorative World Series Baseball tagged “The Subway Series”…..from my research this was the first year that an additional commemorative baseball for the World Series was produced. In 2001 there was a Version 1 and Version 2 World Series Baseball (pre-9/11 and post-9/11). Version 1 was limited production, as the design was changed after 9/11 to a patriotic bunting. Version 2 was actually used in the games that year. Also, in 2001, Rawlings produced an American Flag World Series Baseball with Red/Blue stamping which was used for the ceremonial first pitch at each of the World Series games. In both 2002 & 2003 only 1 version was produced. In 2004 Rawlings produced a World Series Champions Baseball in addition to the game baseball…..these were official game baseballs that were modified for commemorative purposes by adding the logo of the World Series victor on the left and the scores of each of the games on the right, all branded in gold. In 2005 they added the Dueling Teams Baseball that contained the logo of both World Series Teams…..and Rawlings continues to offer these 3 product versions for the World Series through 2008….and beyond.
Before the birth of the World Series in 1903, there were other postseason championships that took place as early as 1884. Although they are not officially recognized as part of World Series history, they provide a basis for the establishment of what has become recognized as "The Fall Classic".
The Fall Classic has provided us with many magical moments. The first World Series, in 1903, was a best-of-nine affair arranged between the champions of the older National League (founded in 1876) and the American League. The AL's Boston Pilgrims upset the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5 games to 3.
The 1904 NL champion New York Giants refused to play Boston the following year, so there was no Series. But the league presidents ironed out their differences, and the Series resumed in 1905, when the Giants agreed to play Philadelphia in a best-of-seven game series.
Since then the World Series has followed the best-of-seven format, except from 1919-21, when it returned briefly to best-of-nine.
As for the World Series Baseballs…..it has pretty much been 1 standard game baseball per year from 1978-1999 (with variations in the stamping color). In 2000 the stamping color changed to an all gold layout (the red stitching remained the same) which has remained that way through 2008. In 2000 Rawlings produced a commemorative World Series Baseball tagged “The Subway Series”…..from my research this was the first year that an additional commemorative baseball for the World Series was produced. In 2001 there was a Version 1 and Version 2 World Series Baseball (pre-9/11 and post-9/11). Version 1 was limited production, as the design was changed after 9/11 to a patriotic bunting. Version 2 was actually used in the games that year. Also, in 2001, Rawlings produced an American Flag World Series Baseball with Red/Blue stamping which was used for the ceremonial first pitch at each of the World Series games. In both 2002 & 2003 only 1 version was produced. In 2004 Rawlings produced a World Series Champions Baseball in addition to the game baseball…..these were official game baseballs that were modified for commemorative purposes by adding the logo of the World Series victor on the left and the scores of each of the games on the right, all branded in gold. In 2005 they added the Dueling Teams Baseball that contained the logo of both World Series Teams…..and Rawlings continues to offer these 3 product versions for the World Series through 2008….and beyond.
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