Project record
One player, one pin: a custom Cooperstown trading pin from Killbuck, NY
A western New York parent thought his team's Cooperstown pins weren't getting traded. So he had 100 made for his own player instead.
Killbuck · NY · Western New YorkCooperstown confirmed
- Quantity
- 100 pins
- Size
- 2.0"
- Pin type
- Standard pins
The brief
“I have a baseball player going to Cooperstown at the end of the July. He team provides basic pins that aren't really sought-after. I was hoping to have a single player pin created. Im not very artsy so I'm…”
How the design got made
- Beat 1
Not a team order — one player, 100 pins
- Beat 2
Explicit competitive framing: the team's supplied pins 'aren't really sought-after' at Cooperstown trading
- Beat 3
Customer opened by admitting they had no design ability and asked TPC to lead
- Beat 4
Heavy glitter work through the design cycle
- Beat 5
Highest per-pin price in the entire sample at $4.25 — small run, high spec
The finished pin
The full account
The ask
Most Cooperstown orders come from a coach or a team manager buying for a whole roster. This one didn't.
"I have a baseball player going to Cooperstown at the end of the July. He team provides basic pins that aren't really sought-after. I was hoping to have a single player pin created. Im not very artsy so I'm…"
Two things in that message matter. The first is the judgment: the pins his son's team was handing out weren't getting traded. At Cooperstown that's not a small thing — trading is most of what happens between games, and a pin nobody wants is a week of standing around with a lanyard full of nothing.
The second is the admission that he had no design ability and wanted us to lead. That's the most common way these start, and it's a good place to start from.
What we built
One hundred pins. Two inches. Glitter worked into the enamel rather than laid on top, so it survives being handled by twelve-year-olds all week.
A hundred pins is a short run, and short runs cost more per pin — the one-time die charge spreads across fewer pieces. This came out the highest per-pin price of any order in this collection. That was the trade the customer wanted: not a cheaper pin for everyone, a better pin for one kid.
Why a single-player pin works at Cooperstown
A team pin says where you're from. A player pin says who you are. At a tournament where every kid is carrying the same design as fourteen teammates, the one that's different is the one that gets asked about.
It doesn't replace the team pin. It sits alongside it, and it's the one that moves.
The route
Killbuck sits in Cattaraugus County, in the western corner of New York. Cooperstown is about two hundred miles east — an in-state drive, and one a lot of New York families make in July.
Specification
| Team | Aces 12U |
|---|---|
| Sport | Baseball |
| Product type | single-player pin |
| Quantity | 100 |
| Size | 2.0" |
| Pin type | Standard pins |
| Finish options | glitter |
| Banner included | No |
| Event | Cooperstown |
| Event confirmed | Yes |
| City | Killbuck |
| State | NY |
| County | Cattaraugus County |
| Region | Western New York |
Reference material on file — logos and flat artwork, not steps in the story
What this price was quoted under
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.
- For quantity
- 100 pins
- At size
- 2.0"
- Finishes
- glitter
- Excludes
- delivery charge, rush fee, import tariff
The banner threshold
This order sat under the threshold, so no banner was included. At the time the line fell at 1,000 pins at 2.0 inches or larger: the size step cost $0.20 more per pin — $1.07 to $1.27 — and brought a free 3ft × 6ft banner plus 100 bonus gold-metal or blackout pins with it.
Worth checking before you commit to a quantity: the bigger pin is frequently the cheaper total order.
quoted for this order onlyAbout 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
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
Yes. Small individual runs are made — 100 pins for a single player is a real order we've filled.
Per-pin cost is higher on a short run, since tooling is spread across fewer pieces. The trade-off buys a design that's specific to one kid rather than one shared across a whole program.
Sourced — Cooperstown single-player order, 2026
Size first — two inches or larger, or it gets passed over. Then movement and texture: spinner, slider and dangler pin types, plus glitter finishes, all raise a pin's trade value.
Teams notice the difference. One parent came to us precisely because their program's standard pins weren't being sought after in trades.
Sourced — Cooperstown single-player order, 2026; sizing guidance across orders
Runs of 100 are made. Per-pin price is higher because the one-time mould cost spreads across fewer pins, so most teams find the value improves sharply between 100 and 300.
Sourced — 100-pin single-player order, 2026
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?
This order was 100 pins at 2.0". Send us your roster size and your event date and we will come back with a price.
Request a free quote