Years ago, trading baseball cards was all the hype. Today, there’s another leader in popularity amongst youth sports fans and players alike; little league trading pins.

Little league pin trading has blossomed into a sport of it’s own. Kids line up around the block to trade little league pins during the summer season, and it’s showing no sign of letting up. Little league pin trading is so popular, that some teams consider it more important than the game, or even the tournament! Pretty crazy isn’t it? Well, kids need a creative outlet, and what better way than letting them design their own trading pins. Many teams take on the task of designing their very own little league trading pins. Some go with bigger pins, some go with smaller pins, but the point here is that trading little league pins is a huge deal, not matter what the size of the pins.

Back in the summer of 2001, I remember going with my nephew to one of his baseball tournaments and seeing kids trading pins, and today it’s much the same, only on a much bigger scale. Kids prioritize pin trading over all else. Who cares about batting averages when you’ve got the baddest trading pins on the field?

It seems to involve kids ranging  from age 6 up to about 15. Most kids older than 15 years old start thinking pin trading is.. well, boring. They’ve got cooler things to do like go to the movies, and do some shopping with dad’s credit card at the mall.

The pins themselves range in styles and sizes. Many kids like a pin that’s about 1.5″ or up to 3″ (HUGE!!) and the companies that make them can do all kinds of neat stuff like adding glitter (sparkly) and even lights that flash. I’ve seen some trading pins that have glow in the dark paint on them as well, but I can’t imagine trading pins in the dark is very intuitive. They make pins that have a smaller pin hanging by a chain (I think they call these danglers) and I’ve seen pins that have another pin almost glued on top of the main pin itself, creating a staggered 3-dimensional look.

Some of these pins are actually pretty awesome, even if you’re not really into pins. A lot of pin traders and companies that manufacture the pins are leaning toward Disney’s style of sparkly, unique and creative pins that get attention from even pin-haters.

Most teams that trade little league pins usually have at least their logo or team name on the pins, letting other teams know who they’re trading pins with. I’ve seen some that have the players’ numbers or even names on the pins, which is an awesome idea! Now the losing players will know the names of the kids who beat them on the ball field.

I wish this whole pin trading thing was around when I was a kid, I would have had a blast with these things. Instead I got cheated out of my best baseball cards and spent too much money on lame packs of cards that never yielded any worthwhile cards.

Anyhow, I just wanted to share a little pinsight, if you will, into the world of little league pin trading. That’s all for now!