Project record
A camper van and a Snoop Dogg portrait, from Long Beach to Cooperstown.
Twelve players, two original illustrations, 1,540 pins — and a free-pin allowance turned into a blackout variant of their own design.
Long Beach · CACooperstown confirmed
- Quantity
- 1,540 pins
- Size
- 2.25" / 3.0"
- Pin type
- Two-design set pins
- Process
- Die struck soft enamel
The brief
A VW camper van and a Snoop Dogg portrait, from a Long Beach team going to Cooperstown.
How the design got made
- Beat 1
Twelve players, Long Beach California, Cooperstown 2026
- Beat 2
Two original designs rather than a logo on a disc: a VW camper van and a Snoop Dogg portrait
- Beat 3
Customer priced both sizes before committing - van at 2.25 inch and at 3 inch
- Beat 4
Went large on the van: 980 pins at 3 inch
- Beat 5
Snoop pin kept at 2.25 inch with three glitter colours
- Beat 6
Order cleared 1,000 pieces, earning the free banner and 100 free pins
- Beat 7
Took the free hundred as blackout versions of the van design
The full account
Not a logo on a disc
Most trading pins start with a team logo. This one started with two ideas: a VW camper van and a Snoop Dogg portrait.
Long Beach, California. Twelve players. Cooperstown 2026. The customer wrote the pin text themselves:
"On the Snoop Dogg pin- can we change the color of "Long Beach, CA Cooperstown 2026"? Maybe red…What do you think?"
That is a team that knows exactly where it is from and wants the pin to say so.
Pricing two designs at two sizes
Rather than guess, the customer asked for the grid:
"VW: 840 pins / Snoop: 360 pins / VW 2.25" / VW 3" / Snoop 2.25""
The answer came back the same way — van at 2.25 inch $1.75, van at 3 inch $3.25, Snoop at 2.25 inch with three glitter colours $2.05, against a base rate of $1.75 per pin at a thousand pieces.
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.
They went large on the van and kept the Snoop pin smaller: 980 at 3 inch, 460 at 2.25 inch.
Three inches is a statement pin. It is the one that stops a trade and starts a conversation, and on a camper-van illustration the extra surface is where the design actually lives.
The clever bit
An order over a thousand pieces earns 100 free two-inch pins, in all-gold metal or blackout. Most teams take the gold.
This one did not:
"For the "Special Promotion" 100 free 2" pins, we'd like to do the VW style pin Blackout."
A blackout version of their own van design. Not a generic freebie — a rare variant of the pin they already had, in a run of exactly one hundred.
That is what a rare pin is supposed to be. Something that is recognisably yours, that there are not many of, that a kid will hunt for all week. A generic gold pin is free; a blackout of your own artwork is scarce.
Five weeks, mostly artwork
From first enquiry in mid-February to order in mid-March, with two original illustrations and several colour rounds in between. The free 3'x6' banner came with it.
Why this one is here
Because it is the most design-led order in the library, and because of the blackout decision. The free hundred pins cost nothing either way. Spending them on a variant of your own design instead of a stock finish costs nothing either — and produces something worth trading for.
Specification
| Team | Beach City Cyclones |
|---|---|
| Sport | Baseball |
| Quantity | 1,540 |
| Size | 2.25" / 3.0" |
| Process | die struck |
| Fill | soft enamel |
| Pin type | Two-design set pins |
| Finish options | 3 glitter colours, blackout |
| Banner included | Yes |
| Event | Cooperstown |
| Event confirmed | Yes |
| City | Long Beach |
| State | CA |
| Inquiry | 2026-02-13 |
What this price was quoted under
- $1.75 / pin2.25" · 1,000 pins
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.
- Quoted on
- February 26, 2026
- For quantity
- 1,000 pins
- At size
- 2.25"
- Build
- die struck soft enamel
- Finishes
- 3 glitter colours, blackout
- Excludes
- delivery charge, rush fee, import tariff
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
“For the "Special Promotion" 100 free 2" pins, we'd like to do the VW style pin Blackout.”
Customer, Beach City Cyclones · 2026-03-02 · on turning the free pins into a rare variant of the main design
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?
At 1,540 pins and 2.25" / 3.0" the banner is included. Send us your quantity and we will show you where the line falls.
Request a free quote