Just like with any trip to a new place, it’s common to want to bring home a souvenir from every new stadium you visit. A popular choice is to collect the same item from every team/stadium. Doing so also doubles as a visual representation of your progress and results in a pretty cool collection in the end. This is something I wish I had planned out better beforehand as our collection of souvenirs is pretty eclectic, but hey, you live you learn! It’s also not as easy as it sounds to do! Read on for my suggestions and tips :)
Popular Baseball Souvenirs
Baseball with team logo
Team hat
Choosing What to Collect
You can’t really go wrong with what you decide to collect and certainly don’t have to strive to get the same thing at every stadium if that’s not what you’re into. However if you do want to do that, it’s important to plan ahead a little. It was surprising to me to find out that not every stadium features the same merchandise - even things that you think would be everywhere like magnets - so you might not be able to always find what you’re looking for. If you’ve already started collecting a certain item it can end up being pretty disappointing!
I didn’t start out with a clear plan in mind. At first I bought a mascot stuffed animal (The Oriole Bird!), deciding I would collect one of the same brand from each stadium. However, the next season the line of them was nowhere to be found and of course some teams don’t have mascots. I next chose to collect stadium magnets, however these ended up being harder to find than I thought and I was told at Fenway that they didn’t sell them. I eventually settled on buying a t-shirt from every stadium we visit and Justin buys a team hat. I also usually buy a pin but haven’t always remembered to grab one.
Other Cool Ways to Commemorate Your Visits
Traditional souvenirs are great, but there’s also some other fun ways to remember your travels!
First Game Certificates - Each stadium does them a little differently but I believe they all offer a free first game certificate! I recommend checking the team website ahead of time to confirm where they offer them, but they’re usually found at a guest services location.
Ballpark Passport Stamp - This is a more expensive way to track your journey, but also really fun! You can purchase a passport book on their website and most stadiums also sell them in their store. The traditional passport has a page for each of the 30 stadiums. Upon your visit, you bring your passport to the specified location(s) to have it stamped with the date!
Promotional Items - Another option is to plan your visits with the team’s promotional schedule in mind. It wouldn’t be easy to get the same items from every stadium, but they’re free and you’ll find there’s some pretty cool and wacky items put out every season! Be sure to keep in mind that some promotional items are only given to fans who bought special tickets and are usually limited in number so it’s important to check those details. If you want to count on getting the promotional item it’s best to get there early and in some rarer cases you’ll find fans lined up for hours!