We’ve been keeping the Nippon Professional Baseball Organization’s (日本野球機構) official commemorative game balls a secret for far too long. It’s time to spill the beans: They are some of the best baseballs on earth!

There, I’ve finally admitted it. Not easy to publish that as a life-long MLB baseball collecting enthusiast and Rawlings aficionado. Now our dozens of readers will know the truth. I’m talking purely from a collector’s point of view; I am not speaking as a professional player who has to use these things (though a few MLB pitchers have been reported to prefer the tackiness and grip of NPB official Mizuno league balls.)

I’m speaking as an overzealous fan who loves logos, colors, layouts and fonts, design in general, and manufacturing and leather quality. The combination and consistency of all of the above. I’m no graphic designer or art director, but I have a pretty good grasp of what works well on the limited leather canvass of a baseball. These are a prime example:

Mizuno’s NPB official match ball gives Rawlings ROMLBs a serious run for the crown of best game ball in town. Specifically, NPB official Mizuno All-Star Game baseballs. Forgive me for the glare in the image above, it’s washing out the logos a bit. Better Museum of Baseballs official images await below.

A few details first: The Nippon Pro Baseball All-Star Game, Game One was played at the Kyocera Dome in Osaka, Japan, split-time home of the Orix Buffaloes and Hanshin Tigers; NPB ASG, Game Two: Yokohama Stadium, home of the Yokohama DeNA BayStars.

The Pacific League won game one in Osaka July 23rd, 5-1. Yuma Tongu’s three-run homer in the third inning earned him MVP honors. In case you’ve ever wondered, “whatever happened to that Franmil Reyes,” the former San Diego Padre and Cleveland Indian who had two 30-plus home run seasons and spent 6 years in the Majors is now a DH with the Nippon Ham Fighters—and an NPB All-Star. He played in Game one, went 1-for-3 with a run, and also participated in the HR Derby after the game. His name caught my eye while reading the box score, so I thought I’d dig deeper and share.

The Pacific League also took Game two, 10-7 over the Central League in Yokohama. Teams combined for five home runs. Kotaro Kiyomiya, who first gained fanfare outside of Japan in the 2012 Little League World Series—where he was billed as the Japanese Babe Ruth—took home the 2025 NPB All-Star Game, Game 2 MVP Award. He was 3-for-5 with a HR, 3 runs and 2 RBI (thank you for the helpful player bio, Baseball Reference!)

2025 Mizuno NPB All-Star Game Official Baseballs

Now, how about them balls? Admittedly, the NPB and its baseball supplier, Mizuno have a major advantage over Major League Baseball’s Rawlings Sporting Goods: They’re not beholden to a tyrannical commissioner’s office that mandates their logos be limited to a teeny smudge about the size of a U.S. quarter.

These are giant logos! They fill the entire south panel, and they properly abut the center panel’s seams! They’re well-centered and bold, and crisp, without any missing ink from chipped or worn stamping plates. These are some of the finer details that really stand out to obsessed collectors like us. And for autograph collectors who prefer a signature under the logo, those types of flaws can make a big difference for your collection, display, and a baseball’s value. In our experience, Mizuno’s leather ranges from nearly flawless to absolute perfection (always!) and everything is just tight and clean.

Another major advantage that leads to nearly impeccable quality: these baseballs are extremely limited. They simply don’t make many—for retail or for official game use. Whereas our American pro leagues can produce tens of thousands to more than a hundred thousand of some commemorative game balls. That’s an awful lot of stitching and stamping taking place in Costa Rica by comparison. So, I’m very aware of the advantages Mizuno has for its top-of-the-line product. (But I wouldn’t doubt they’d find a way to keep up the same standards and high-caliber build if they were tasked with producing tens of thousands more per event.)

2025 Mizuno NPB Fresh All-Star Game Official Baseball

Let’s check out the NPB Fresh All-Star Game baseball too, in all of its glorious PURPLEness! The Fresh ASG is NPB’s equivalent of the MLB and Minor League Baseball’s All-Star Futures Game. The Rexxam Fresh All-Star Game 2025 took place July 20th at Rexxam Ballpark Marugame (Marugame Municipal Baseball Stadium).

Now the important stuff, that baseball! First note: Multicolor laces. Fantastic! Would you want MLB’s Futures Game baseballs to feature two-tone stitching as well? Or would that detract from the distinctiveness of our Midsummer Classic game balls? I’m open to it personally, multicolor-laced baseballs are my all-time favorite and one per season isn’t enough!

On this Fresh ball, I do wish they had matched one lace color to the purple ink stamping. Wouldn’t blue and purple work better? Maybe I’m overthinking it. It’s unique and darn cool as it is. My only legit complaint is that bare center / league panel. That always looks bizarre to me; I desperately want them to fill it with important information! Like, “2025 Fresh All-Star Game”. Or a commissioner’s signature stamp? But commish signatures are long gone on NPB pro game balls. It’s a long story. We’ll save it for our deep dive on the history NPB official game balls, maybe an article to consider for the offseason. If nothing else, that blank league panel sweet spot is great space for a signature—between the logos, as opposed to under the logo.

Note that all three of these balls have hologram stickers and the NPB “Official Ball” stamp on the top panel. Those stickers indicate these are official and NPB-authenticated, but not game-used. The league switched from hand-stamped “approved by commissioner” stamps to factory NPB logo “Official Ball” stamps around 2011. And there’s something missing from these commemorative logo balls that you’ll find on NPB standard league balls… a little ‘RunBird’ stamp, Mizuno’s official logo. They dropped the Mizuno text from that in 2019, I believe. I couldn’t imagine an MLB ROMLB gamer without a proper Rawlings stamp, could you? I don’t want to. But I appreciate that each league, and really, each culture has its own customs.

One real change I’d like to see on these specially stamped Japan ASG balls? Unique event logos each season, tailored to the host city and/or host team. The Fresh ASG design gets reFreshed (😃) annually, but not the main event.

The league only deviates from its annual All-Star event mark when the game’s sponsor changes. The Mynavi design has not changed since its first use in 2017. The games were sponsored by Mazda from 2008–2016, and their emblem only changed once, from 2008 to 2009. NPB used to feature a unique logo each season, however; there have been some amazing marks in NPB’s All-Star Game history! Look closely, you’ll also find some multicolored stamping for a few seasons.

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In case anyone was wondering, there are no special event Home Run Derby official game balls and as far as we know, there never have been. But let’s check the event’s results anyway: The “Mynavi All-Star Game 2025: Go Nissan Home Run Derby,” Yokohama DeNA BayStars’ Hideto Maki beat Kotaro Kiyomiya Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters 7-6 to win the HR Derby championship. I want to see an official Japan Home Run Derby ball in the future. Not that we need another difficult and potentially pricey ball to track down each season. I just know they’d probably do something really cool with its design.

A little more info from our Museum of Baseballs’ notes: These annual Midsummer Classic games (two games per season!) and their Fresh Game counterpart—equivalent to Major League Baseball’s Futures Game—have featured special event, commemorative logo official on-field baseballs since the 1990s. They haven’t always been Mizuno-made. Sun-up and possibly a few other manufacturers made many pro NPB and Pacific and Central League baseballs before the league mandated a single supplier and a “uniform, 12-team match ball” across the league.

They haven’t always been this high quality, but I can report most balls in my collection dating back to the 1980s do not tone. At least they do not age like most other manufacturers’ leather baseballs. Many hardly show any toning, just a slight change to off-white. As a fanatical Rawlings fan and long-time MLB-first baseball collector, I’m ready to admit. Mizuno NPB commemorative game balls might just be the pinnacle professional baseballs—particularly for the most discerning official game ball collectors!

We’ll have plenty of other non-MLB game ball coverage from leagues around the world. Feel free to message us with a special request or insider info for a specific league or event. We might be willing to share some tips on how to track down these rare gems, thought the last thing we need is more competition! And please sign up to our email list below so you can get the scoop and game ball news first!