About the Ball: Rawlings Official MiLB AAA game ball for the 2012 Triple A National Championship Game held in Durham, NC.

About the Ball: The red ink stamped version of the Rawlings 2001 Month of the Americas Official Game Ball. Normally, this ball is stamped in blue. We've seen a half dozen red versions at least. Enough to make one wonder if both versions might have been used. Perhaps, or maybe these were an early version that was eventually changed to blue? Or maybe just a misprint / prototype.

About the Ball: The official (on-field) Rawlings 2012 24-Karat Gold Home Run Derby Baseball. The second time Rawlings and Gold Sport Collectibles teamed up to produce an true gold-infused leather cover official game ball.

As with all Gold Baseballs (or Money Baseballs) used in the Home Run Derby, these are put into play after a participant has 9 outs. Each home run hit with a gold ball results in substantial donations to MLB Charities.

About the Ball: Rawlings offered these leather Signature Series baseballs* for autograph collectors as a more economical alternative to the Official Game Ball. Big League Baseballs does not condone unofficial baseballs for autographs under any citcumstances, but at least these are leather and supposedly do not bleed when signed.

*This addition to the Museum of Baseballs is an exception, only for educational purposes.

About the Ball: Extremely rare - the 2012 Gold Glove Awards Official Baseball. The most perfect leather you'd see on any ball is wrapped around these 2012 keepsakes, as well as the almost identical 2011 versions of Gold Glove Awards Ceremony baseballs. They saved the best of the best for these very special baseballs, and the stamping is perfect in placement and crispness.

This ball is extremely rare, to obtain one, you had to be there, and even then, you probably had to be pretty important. Not many of these made it to collectors, if any. In fact, it's the only one I've seen unsigned, and one of the only ones that made it out to the public (huge tip of the cap to Rawlings for making this available!)

About the Ball: Commemorating the Mariano River's record 602 saves, which the New York Yankees closer recorded during the 2011 season.

Although these Rawlings Official Game Balls weren't used, they are made exactly the same as your standard ROMLB official game ball - with official league stamping including Commissioner Allan H. "Bud" Selig facsimile signature.

About the Ball: 2013 Rawlings World Baseball Classic Official Game Ball. Third installment of the kind of triennial WBC.

About the Ball: 2012 Rawlings World Baseball Classic Qualifier baseball.

About the Ball: An extremely rare Spalding Reach American League Official Game Ball, AL President Lee MacPhail stamped, with additional top panel stamping. The stamp on the top panel is what makes it significant - it was produced to commemorate the introduction of cowhide in Major League Game Baseball manufacturing. (Official MLB game balls were previously constructed of horsehide leather).

The top panel reads: "Cowhide Baseball First Use 4-4-74 Texas vs. Oakland." That would be MLB Opening Day in Texas - a historic day in the evolution of the official Major League Baseball.

To this day, we are unsure about how these official on-field style baseballs were used. Did they make it into games on opening day in 1974, as might be suggested by the stamping? Until we have a version with solid provenance, we can only speculate. But make no mistake, it's an official game-style AL ball from the period, and it's a very valuable and highly sought after baseball regardless of its use.

The Big League Baseballs Museum of Baseball also features the National League counterpart, a Spalding labeled Feeney version.

About the Ball: This is the second version of 2000 All-Star Game prototype / misprint we've seen (the first version is the next image in this gallery).

This most likely came out in 1999 after Atlanta was announced as the host. I believe this because it features the old Rawlings logo, which was updated for the 2000 season, and ended use in 1999. It also has a different commemorative logo.

It's entirely possible this was meant to be a souvenir ball and for whatever reason, it was printed on an Official MLB baseball. We've seen this exact logo (in multiple colors) on vinyl souvenir baseballs.

And lastly, this ball has all red laces - just like the other prototype / misprint. The Official 2000 All-Star Game ball of course has navy blue and red laces.