Custom trading pins are a long-time staple of Little League baseball. The hobby of swapping pins at games and tournaments is a much-anticipated part of the fun of participating each year. But baseball no longer has a monopoly among youth sports on the fun of custom trading pins.

Young players of sports such as soccer, hockey, and even football are joining the ranks of those who swap custom trading pins at sporting events. With each additional sport, the popularity of custom trading pins continues to grow.

The legacy of custom trading pins dates back to the early days of the modern Olympic Games. Swedish athletes introduced the pins that evolved into the custom trading pins we know today, in the Swedish national colors of blue and yellow at the Olympics of 1906. By the 1920s, athletes and officials began swapping pins representing their respective countries.

From that beginning, the tradition of custom trading pins has grown bigger over the years. Olympic athletes, officials and others trade them as tokens of international friendship. By the 1980 Winter Olympics, spectators had joined the growing contingent of pin traders. Since then, the collecting and swapping of custom trading pins has reached new heights each year.

There’s no mystery behind why virtually all Little League World Series contenders arrive in South Williamsport, Pa., every summer with custom trading pins in tow. The pins are colorful, affordable, and a fun representation of a team’s identity. The custom trading pins represent team spirit in its purest form.

The really cool thing about trading pins is that you can customize them just about any way you want. No matter what sport you’re interested in, custom trading pins can represent it. Any reputable supplier of custom trading pins can help you design fantastic pins that every competing team will want to trade for.

The best way to start designing your team’s custom trading pins is with a common element of your sport -- baseballs, bats, pucks, footballs, skates, or anything else that represents the sport. Then you add trading power by adding specifics. Got a mascot? Work it into your design! The graphic artists at any good supplier of custom trading pins can help you turn your mascot into a great pin design.

That’s just the beginning. If you want your custom trading pins to be the ones everyone else wants to trade two or more of their pins for, go for options. Add one or several to make your pins a grand slam design.

For example, you can give that mascot blinking LED lights for eyes. It’s a cool effect that really adds eye-catching interest to your custom trading pins.

Danglers can add the year of the tournament, a baseball, a glove or other option to your trading pin. These give your custom trading pins both visual appeal and historical context. And best of all, if your team is on a tight budget, you can update the danglers every year with the current information without having to replace the entire trading pins.

If you want to add even more visual appeal to your custom trading pins, add motion. Spinners, sliders and bobble heads will give your pins a fun "play" factor and really kick their desirability up a notch.

If you want maximum visual appeal for minimal cost, add glitter enamel. It’s a terrific way to add rich-looking sparkle and presence to your team’s custom trading pins for surprisingly little cost.

Remember, when you’re designing custom trading pins, you are limited only by your own imagination. Get creative and you can design the greatest custom trading pins your players – or their competitors – have ever seen. It’s fun and easy to create great looking custom trading pins.