Rawlings is rolling out more commemoratives for the new baseball campaign while grass on some Major League fields is just beginning to thaw. Some teams haven’t even hosted their home openers yet, and crates of MLB 2025 All-Star Game dozen boxes are already stacked on retailers’ shelves.
Most new City Connect uniforms are still awaiting their unveiling events or inaugural games, but we’ve already received the scoop on specially stamped baseballs that will be paired with those peculiar Nike jerseys and New Era hats. We’ll get those uploaded this weekend and have a separate writeup as there’s just too much to uncover in one post.
And at least four stadiums are celebrating anniversaries this season. While it appears two teams will fail to memorialize their stadium’s milestones, today we’ll focus on the two franchises that knew better: Colorado Rockies’ Coors Field (30th) and San Francisco Giants Oracle Park (25th). But if you want to see a sneak peek, you need to sit through my rant and ramble first. And that’s the segue to underwhelming news: Major League Baseball has a dud of a logo on its beautiful Midsummer Classic baseballs:
The 2025 Rawlings Major League All-Star Game Baseball, to be used July 15th at Truist Park in Cumberland, Cobb County, Georgia, home of the Atlanta Braves:
Quick reaction, I cannot, not love a multi-color laced baseball! Put another way: I have never met a multi-color-laced ball I didn’t like. It’s impossible to not appreciate these, even in the most common iteration, red and blue with blue ink. This arrangement just resonates. Pure Americana. It’s nostalgic and patriotic.
Naturally, the stitch-and-stamp color combo reminds of the classic Reach American League red- and blue-laced vintage ‘base balls’ from 1901-1933. I admit it’s already grown on me a bit. I do like this ball, it just leaves something to be desired. It’s that logo. Snore.
I had to begrudgingly photograph this ball for the OfficialGameBalls.com Museum of Baseballs while wondering why the real Atlanta 2025 logo wasn’t emblazoned on the south panel. I compared this new baseball with its caustically canceled predecessor, the 2021 All-Star Game ball. What the heck happened? Where’s the logo’s big blue star and the architectural elements from The Battery Atlanta, the city’s sports and entertainment hub where the Braves’ park is located?
All gone. The only remnant from the original mark is the font. And that Atlanta Braves “A” is a nice touch that was spared. (They even neutered the MasterCard balls from betwixt the star’s legs! At least that’s an improvement. I know it’s a family friendly site, but once you see ’em, you can’t unsee them. Fortunately on this ball, we don’t gotta see them!)
Another angle, displaying the manufacturer’s stamp at the top panel, and the league panel with Baseball Commissioner Robert Manfred Jr.’s stamped facsimile signature.
I’ve had slightly higher expectations for commemoratives recently. Logo sizes have been increasing, thanks to the good folks at Rawlings. And the league and some of its teams’ designs have been improving, aside from the MLB World Tour events… and some City Connect baseballs.
Last year’s gorgeous 2024 MLB ASG (Texas) logo, which thankfully made it onto official 2024 ROMLB-ASG balls is a great example. And the previous season’s fantastic silver- and Northwest Green-laced 2023 ASG Ball (Seattle), with its perfectly paired dark blue stamped emblem exhibiting a row of stately evergreens against a snow-capped Mount Rainier backdrop—plus a sneaky little Seattle Space Needle and even a mini throwback Mariners compass logo properly pointing to the northwest? Just incredible. You need to see that in color to fully appreciate it.(Please ignore the MasterCard pair. Again.)
By comparison, this new All-Star logo feels like some stodgy, recycled, phoned-it-in-at-5pm-on-a-Friday malarkey. And then it dawned on me. It’s much too similar to the Rawlings MLB All-Star Game ball used in Cleveland in 2019. Compare:
This is the logo that should have been featured on the Cleveland 2019 ASG ball. It even had a nickname, ‘Stars & Six Strings’. And it represented Cleveland’s six All-Star games. How could you waste such a cool, rare opportunity to brandish the season’s most important special event game ball with an electric guitar? It was a no doubter, grand slam gopher ball served up on a platter! Worst case, you must have a great backup secondary mark that’s similar. Or you could even turn the thing vertical, and position it like this incredibly unique baseball!
How did they go so wrong again this season? Shouldn’t they have learned from 2019? Perhaps there was little choice. I’ve said more than enough on this one. I’ll just note that both of these primary logos for the Cleveland and Atlanta events were just too wide for the leather canvass of an official ROMLB ball. When shrunk down to fit, details get lost and things get discombobulated. And perhaps without a quality secondary logo available, MLB had little choice but to go with these text-heavy replacements.
Despite the letdown on the logo, it’s always so fun to get an MLB All-Star Ball and add it to the display case! And it makes me appreciate those amazing designs from previous seasons. Now about those sneak peeks I promised…
Rawlings New Releases: 2 Stadium Anniversaries Unveiled! 4 City Connects Imminent!
Our endless speculation and daydreaming led us to track down some very interesting, very cool, and hopefully, prophetic logos and ideas for event baseballs. We cover all of this in our annual season primer, the season game ball tracker and wish list post. And some of our predictions are coming true. Check out these two:
If you live in California and can get to San Francisco’s Oracle Park in time for tonight’s game, order tickets RIGHT NOW! Why? Because they’ve got a sweet special event logo game ball getting rubbed up as we speak.
Tonight is the Giants 2025 home opener, and what better way to kick off the 25th year at Oracle Park (formerly Pac Bell, AT&T, and forever 24 Willie Mays Plaza) than with this sweet commemorative logo baseball! One game only, we’ve been warned.
Better book a flight and head to the Rocky Mountains for a Saturday matinee game if you want to snag this Coors Field 30th Year ball in person. It’s also a single-game only commemorative. The Colorado Rockies host the Cincinnati Reds Saturday, April 26 at 1:10pm.
“Celebrate 30 incredible years of Coors Field as we honor the legacy of the Rockies in LoDo! This special day at the ballpark will include a tribute to one of the franchise’s most beloved players, former outfielder and Blake Street Bomber, Dante Bichette!” –Colorado Rockies
We’ll get proper images of each stadium milestone ball soon. They will be carried by select dealers, so please don’t pay silly prices on eBay!
Stay tuned this weekend for our post revealing four new City Connect Official Game Balls – all debuting in 2025. Plus, we’ll share the list of repeat City Connect baseballs from 2024. And then a mega drop! We’ve already teased these on this site and a few of our social channels: The Rawlings 2025 Team Series Collection – all 30 teams will showcase an exclusive ROMLB ball in team colors, with team logos! Please share your thoughts in the comments and consider subscribing below. Have a question or contribution? Please message us here or follow us on Instagram and send a direct message there.
