Ripken Baseballs Great for Autographs

Many collectors of signed baseballs look for the special commemorative balls issued by Major League Baseball for special occasions. Cal Ripken baseballs are especially popular and two different ones were issued later in his career—each documenting a landmark moment in his Hall of Fame career.

The Cal Ripken baseballs were used by MLB on the following occasions:  the 2131 ball was designed for use at Camden Yards on September 6, 1995 when Ripken Jr. broke Lou Gehrig’s record for consecutive games played. Gehrig had set the mark in the 1930s with 2130 consecutive games played. 2131, of course, represented the number of the new record.

The Official American League baseball had the number 8 logo on it for Ripken’s jersey number along with the two record numbers.

In 2001, Ripken’s two-decade long big league career came to an end and he was again honored during his final game with the use of a special “farewell” ball. This Ripken baseball featured a drawing of Cal waving to fans along with the dates of his rookie year (1982) and his retirement season (2001).

Collectors can own the commemorative baseballs for what’s generally a very reasonable price since MLB and Rawlings created thousands of exact replicas of the Ripken baseballs to meet the demand of fans and collectors. They are favorites for collectors who appreciated what Ripken did—and still does—for baseball.

The signed The Cal Ripken Jr. Commemorative baseball was used in the game played at Camden Yards on On September 6, 1995 when Cal Ripken Jr. broke Lou Gehrig’s record for consecutive games played, 2131. The Official American League Gene Budig baseball featured the number 8 logo on it and the number of consecutive games he played in to break Lou Gehrig’s record.