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PINPOINTS Volume 1 Issue1 debuted in the Winter of 1998. It seems like I wrote that first issue just yesterday. How time flies. Think of all the new press pins which have been issued since then. I would like to point out some of the recent new innovative and clever mechanical pin designs over this decade. First let’s examine the 2001 Seattle Mariner’s All-Star press which features a working compass at it’s center. Worth noting is the 2001 Seattle Mariners team. They lead the American League all year with 116 regular season wins, then somehow lost their way. That’s the mystique of baseball. Another interesting press pin worth mentioning is the 2002 Milwaukee All-Star press pin. Remember this is the infamous All-Star Game that ended in a tie score? The mechanical movement on this pin may have foretold the outcome of the game because on this pin Miller Park’s stadium roof flips open. This “separating roof” always reminds me how this particular All-Star Game is the only Mid-Summer Classic in Major League baseball history that ended “up in the air”.
And how about the Super Bowl XXXVIII press pin? When a collector slides open the retractable roof it is very reminiscent of that year’s wardrobe malfunction during the halftime show.
For me my pin collecting dates back to October 13, 1978; my first World Series experience. My father came home from work and surprised my brother and I with the tickets to Game 3. That night provided me with my first glimpse of Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio, the “Yankee Clipper”. Mr. DiMaggio threw out the ceremonial first pitch. The applause was so loud for Joe DiMaggio it was deafening. The Yankees won Game 3. More importantly I am forever awestruck by the 1978 New York Yankees World Series press pin. This pin takes me back in time and reminds me of my favorite moment in baseball history. We sat in the upper deck that cool October night. I wish I had kept the ticket stub from that game.
Being a pin collector has it’s moments. Several years ago a local production company rented my office to film a commercial. When the hairstylist passed by my desk she picked up a Indy 500 pit badge I had left and she intently remarked to me, “ I know what this is.” “You do?” I replied. This is a Indy 500 pit badge”, she said. “How did you know that?” I asked brimming with curiosity . The woman proudly answered, “my father Johnnie Parsons won the 34th running of the Indianapolis 500 in 1950. Wow I thought it doesn’t get much better than this.
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