Project record
Six designs, two dangles, and an error caught before the moulds ran
The most complex order in the library — six pin designs on one purchase order, plus a six-foot banner — and a quantity mix-up spotted on the invoice and fixed in production.
Cooperstown All Star Village confirmed
- Pin type
- Dangle pins
- Process
- Die struck
The brief
Six pin designs, two of them on dangles, plus a six-foot banner — and a quantity mix-up caught after the order had already reached the factory.
How the design got made
- Beat 1
Six distinct designs approved on one purchase order, from a 2 inch team pin to a 3 inch dangle
- Beat 2
One design built as an all-gold metal variant of another
- Beat 3 · pivot
Customer reviewed the invoice and found the two dangle quantities had been swapped
- Beat 4
He was explicit about the constraint: no budget to simply increase the larger run
- Beat 5
Rep went back to the factory in writing and got the swap confirmed before production
- Beat 6 · pivot
Roster grew by a player mid-build, as Cooperstown rosters do
- Beat 7
Shipped by UPS with the banner artwork still being collected
The full account
Six designs, one order
Most teams order one pin. Athletes HQ ordered six:
| Proof | Size | Build |
|---|---|---|
| D6 | 2.0″ | team pin |
| D7C | 2.0″ | the customer's "hotdog design" |
| D8A | 3.0″ | 1 dangle (0.75″ drop) |
| D9B | 3.0″ | 1 dangle + 1 glitter colour |
| D10B | 2.0″ | — |
| D10B | 2.0″ | all gold metal |
Plus a 3ft × 6ft banner. On one purchase order.
The two dangles are the reason this record exists. A dangle is a second, smaller pin hanging from the first on a short chain — three inches of pin with another three-quarters of an inch swinging below it. They are the most-traded thing a team can carry and the hardest to get right, because the drop has to hang straight.
The catch
Four days after approval, the customer read his invoice properly and found the two dangle quantities had been ordered the wrong way round.
"An error on my part is, I should have ordered more of the D8A with dangle and fewer of the glitter D9B with dangle pins."
He takes the blame in the first six words. Then he names the constraint:
"I don't have $800 budget to increase quantity of D8A if they still need to charge us for (qty240) D9B."
Price shown is what this order was quoted at, for this quantity, size and specification, on this date. It is not a current price list.
He was not asking for more pins. He was asking for the same pins in the right proportions — 240 of the one the team needed, 36 of the accent.
The save
The order was already with the factory. What happened next is the whole point:
"PLEASE CONFIRM YOU HAVE THESE TWO QUANTITY CORRECT FOR THESE TWO DESIGNS!! CUSTOMER IS ASKING FOR CONFIRMATION"
Written in capitals, to the factory, with the customer's question attached. Five days later:
"The factory confirmed quantity change."
The swap cost nothing, because it happened before the moulds ran. Shipped by UPS on the 23rd.
The postscript
A week before shipping:
"I did hear we just added one more player to our Cooperstown team."
Rosters move. They always do — three separate records in this library ended up revised because a player joined or left mid-build. It is worth ordering a few spare.
Specification
| Team | Athletes HQ |
|---|---|
| Sport | Baseball |
| Process | die struck |
| Pin type | Dangle pins |
| Finish options | dangle, glitter, all gold metal |
| Banner included | Yes |
| Event | Cooperstown All Star Village |
| Event confirmed | Yes |
| Artwork approved | 2026-07-05 |
| Shipped | 2026-07-23 |
The banner threshold
This order cleared it. At a thousand pins over two inches, the banner and the bonus pins came with the run — the twenty cents a pin bought a larger pin as well as the banner.
- Pins only
- Trades poorly at tournament tables
- Free 3ft × 6ft banner — 13oz vinyl, CMYK, grommets every 2ft
- Free 100 gold-metal or blackout pins
- The size players actually trade
Threshold met at 1,000+ pins · +$0.20 per pin
About the prices on this page
Every figure here is taken from a real quote for a real order. That is the point of it — and also the reason it will not match what you are quoted.
- Quantity moves the price more than anything else
- Size and build are priced separately
- Turnaround changes the total
- Import tariffs apply and are disclosed on the quote
- These are historical
What the customer said
“An error on my part is, I should have ordered more of the D8A with dangle and fewer of the glitter D9B with dangle pins.”
Customer, Athletes HQ · 2026-07-09 · on catching his own quantity error on the invoice
Questions this order answers
Pins are trading currency there, not souvenirs, and the difference between a pin that gets traded and one that doesn't is size and finish. Two inches is the floor.
Not every player relies on the team's pin. One parent came to us specifically because their team's supplied pins, in their words, 'aren't really sought-after' — and had a single-player pin made for their kid instead.
Build in time. Rosters change between ordering and travelling; more than one design has needed a number pulled late because a player left the program before the trip.
Sourced — Two confirmed Cooperstown orders, 2026 season
Glitter is a finish, so it applies to any pin type — standard, spinner or slider alike. It is mixed into the enamel of a chosen colour rather than applied on top, so it will not rub off.
It is specified per colour: one glitter colour, or several. Commonly it lands on a single accent area — the shape of a state, a star, a puck. A 1,500-pin association order ran one glitter colour across the whole run; another design used gold glitter only on the state-shaped element.
Sourced — Multiple 2025–26 orders
No. Every figure in this library is what one team was quoted for one order, on the day they asked. It is published as a record, not as a price list.
Quantity and size move it most: the break runs about $0.20 per pin for every hundred pins, and the range here goes from a 1,500-pin corporate run at 1.25 inch to a 3 inch dangler with glitter. Pin type and finish are priced per pin on top of that — a spinner was $0.65 more per pin on one order, glitter is $0.10 per pin per glitter colour.
Timing is separate again. Six weeks ahead of your date carries no delivery or rush charge; four weeks adds a $40 delivery charge; three weeks adds $40 plus a $75 rush fee. The pins are manufactured in China and are subject to US import tariffs, disclosed on the quote rather than at invoice.
For a price that applies to your order, send your quantity, size and in-hands date and we will quote it.
Sourced — Quoted ladders and fee schedule across the AP Pope, Corona Avengers and Brainerd AHA threads, 2025–2026
Heading to Cooperstown?
Send us your quantity, your size and your in-hands date, and we will come back with a price.
Request a free quote