Design Competition Begins for Baseball Commemorative Coins

A national design competition is underway that will decide the obverse design for 2014 National Baseball Hall of Fame Commemorative Coins.

The Baseball Coin Design Competition began on April 11th and is scheduled to run through May 11, 2013.

The winner will see their design featured on the heads side of all three National Baseball Hall of Fame Commemorative Coins along with their initials. In addition, a prize of $5,000.00 will also be awarded.

"Baseball and the United States Mint-two American treasures-are teaming up to produce a historic one-of-a-kind coin program," said Treasurer of the United States Rosie Rios. "Baseball is a touchstone in American history, and the United States Mint connects Americans to their history through coins. The Treasury Department is proud to be part of this commemorative coin program."

This is the first time a public design competition has been held by the United States Mint since 1992.

Details about the Baseball Coin Design Competition

In addition to the limited time for the design competition of April 11 – May 11, a stipulation limits entries to 10,000. If that happens first, the submission period will end early. 48 hours’ notice will be given in such an event.

Participants are required to create an obverse design emblematic of the game of baseball. The design must also include the inscriptions "Liberty," "In God We Trust," and "2014."

Coin designs may be submitted online at batterup.challenge.gov.

U.S. citizens and permanent residents age 14 and older are eligible to participate. Those under that age can enter in an associated Kids’ Baseball Coin Design Challenge. Fifteen winners will be selected from the kids’ challenge. A grand prize winner in each age bracket receives a National Baseball Hall of Fame $1 Silver Silver Dollar. Four runners up from each bracket will receive a clad Baseball Hall of Fame Half Dollar.

Additional design competition details and rules for the event may be found on the U.S. Mint’s contest page.

National Baseball Hall of Fame Commemorative Coin Program Details

The National Baseball Hall of Fame Commemorative Coin Act, Public Law 112-152, authorizes the U.S. Treasury to strike and release up to 50,000 $5 gold coins, 400,000 silver dollars and 750,000 clad half-dollar coins in recognition and celebration of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

In a first for the U.S. Mint, the $5 gold and silver dollar Baseball Commemorative Coins will feature a reverse that is convex in shape. That curved shape is meant to more closely resemble a baseball which is also to be featured on the reverse design.

Design candidates for the reverse have already been unveiled by the U.S. Mint. These were not part of any contest, but created by U.S. Mint artists. These design candidates have been reviewed by both the Citizen’s Coinage Advisory Committee and the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts for their comment and recommendations. Images of the proposed designs for the $1 silver coins are below. The second design is the leading candidate based on CFA and CCAC notes.

Baseball Commemorative Silver Coin Design S-01 Candidate

Baseball Commemorative Silver Coin S-02 Candidate

Baseball Commemorative Silver Coin S-03 Candidate

Baseball Commemorative Silver Coin S-04 Candidate

Baseball Commemorative Silver Coin S-05 Candidate

Baseball Commemorative Silver Coin S-06 Candidate

The design proposals for the $5 gold coins and clad half-dollars are the same as above with the exception of the inscripted dollar amounts. Those change based on the denomination of the Baseball Commemorative Coin.

Surcharges are to be collected on the sale of each commemorative sold in the amount of $35 per gold coin, $10 per silver dollar and $5 per half-dollar coin. These surcharges are to be forwarded to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum (baseballhall.org) in Cooperstown, New York, to help fund its activities.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame Commemorative Coins will be released by the United States Mint sometime in 2014. They will be offered as one of two commemorative coin programs of the U.S. Mint that year with the other being the 2014 Civil Rights Silver Dollar struck in recognition of the 50th anniversary of a 1964 Civil Rights Act.