Collector’s guides and expert authentication for Official National & American League baseballs, 1876 – 1999.
“I have in my possession the original ball with which we used to play on Murray Hill… I cannot bear to part with it, so linked is it with cherished home memories.”— Alexander Cartwright, 1849
Identify, date, and price every Spalding, Reach, and Rawlings Official National & American League ball — with professional photography of every stamped panel and original box.
Every Official American League baseball, traced chronologically with full-panel photography, president stampings, stitch counts, and market values.
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Both guides together — the complete reference for every Official National and American League ball, from the earliest Spalding to the modern Rawlings.
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Every Official National League baseball from the founding of the league, including balls so rare that only one or two are known to exist.
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Baseball can be played virtually anywhere. Random items can substitute for missing bases; a stick or branch for a bat. But without a ball, there is no baseball game. In less than 200 years the game has grown from hand-stitched balls used over and over in open fields to a sport that goes through close to 250,000 game balls each season.
In the early years only three or four baseballs were used in a professional game. Pitchers were allowed to spit on, dirty, and scuff them, leaving collectors today very few quality specimens. Despite how collectible the ball has become, it had been largely neglected in terms of research and documentation — until now.
Each page is dedicated to a specific ball and time period, highlighting even the smallest changes — presidential stampings, logo changes, stitch type and count, materials, and branding.
Every baseball authenticated by History of the Base Ball is assigned a unique certification number and a printed Letter of Authenticity on proprietary watermarked paper, bearing the live signature of expert Brandon Grunbaum.
Buyers, heirs, and auction houses can verify any certificate instantly — including photographs, grades, era, and appraisal.
Reference expert for the National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum, premier auction houses, the industry’s prominent autograph authenticators, and the FBI. Historical consultant credited by ESPN, CBS, and MLB.
Meet Brandon Grunbaum