The Genetti Hotel has long been a centerpiece of downtown Williamsport, towering over most of downtown and serving as an iconic travel destination for the hundreds of thousands that have passed through in its over 100 years in business. And, during the first week of the Little League World Series, it serves as a headquarters of sorts for one of the most well-known Little League World Series traditions, pin trading.

Each year, trading pin manufacturer DPH Custom Pins rents out a ballroom in the Genetti Hotel and turns it into a pin trading room. This year, like every other year, the room is packed with pin-trading hobbyists from near and far who gather each year in Williamsport as a sort of family reunion of sorts. This year’s pin trading room at the Genetti ran from Aug.12 to Aug. 17.

The camaraderie in the room is evident, with the tradition being passed down from generation to generation. But, make no mistake, the trading is quite serious.

“The trading can get to be high pressure sometimes,” Jeff Ware, a pin trader that comes in from Northern New Jersey in the shadows of Manhattan each year, said. “I like to trade for local league pins that some League in Iowa, Kansas, or Arizona, made with no idea that it ever was going to be traded, just made for all the kids in their local league, and somehow it made its way here (to Williamsport).. To me, there’s something special about that journey. Just like the players getting here, like that pin somehow made it here.”

Ware, who has been trading pins for decades, starting trading pins at the Eastern Regional Tournament, before attending the last fifteen editions of the Little League World Series in a row. While pin trading at the actual Little League World Series complex has been significantly diminished due to Little League removing designated pin trading areas from the complex, it’s stronger than ever at the Genetti.

“This week, this is probably the center of the pin trading universe,” Adam Miller said. Friday night will be the busiest this room gets.”

Miller, a South Williamsport local, starting trading pins nearly three decades ago after a friend invited him to Lamade Stadium to trade pins. He’s been hooked ever since. Some collectors focus on more baseball-centric pins to round out their collection. But Many of the hardcore pin traders, who talk throughout the year via social media, have their own custom pins made at sizable cost each year.

There’s the custom pin side of it, where people make pins of things they like in pop culture, maybe a dragon or whatever, and put their Little League district on it, and that designates it as a little league pin” he said. And we’re more in the custom game. We mainly focus on just bigger custom pins of stuff that we like, not so much, collecting every pin, or every district, or anything like that.”

DPH Custom Pins, an Ohio-based company Miller’s custom pin this year is a part of a set of three and takes inspiration from the famed comic Spiderman. Each pin cost upwards of $20 to have custom made, and just 50 of the pins, roughly the size of the palm of a hand, were made.

Local resident Drae Lewis is another passionate pin trader, and his love for trading has been augmented by the fact that his elementary school-aged son Cassius, loves pin trading, as well.

“Just being in Williamsport and attending the parade all the time, after collecting a bunch of pins, I found out about the hobby, and we got into it, and we haven’t looked back since then.” Lewis said. “I think our favorite part is making our own pins. We make our own custom pins to trade out with people every year that we see. That’s pretty special.”

There is typical a Winter Classic pin trading event held in Williamsport each winter that brings pin traders, including Lewis, together to trade so that they don’t have to wait an entire year to get back to their favorite hobby.

DPH Custom Pins, a company based in Ohio, has long been a player in the sports pin game. And, Little League is a core part of their business, according to owner Tammy Hammer.

“Little League pins are definitely our big event” she said.

Hammer says that the custom pin manufacturing process, once the artwork is finalized, takes 4 to 6 weeks by the time the highly specialized factories overseas make the pins through tenuous labor and get the pins back. And, for events like the Little League World Series, they will make tens of thousands of both custom and stock pins.

While they do sell pins at the DPH pin trading room at the Genetti, the event is mostly about customer outreach and a thank you to the pin aficionados that support their business.

This is our way of saying thanks to our clients for your business throughout the year, and to let them know how much we appreciate them coming back to see us time and time again.” Hammer, who also provides free beer and soft drinks to traders during the event, said.

Many in the pin trading room lament what they perceive as Little League International trying to force out pin traders from the Little League World Series complex, with many of them believing the reasoning for the gradual removal of designated pin trading areas having to do with the time it takes security to check the zip-up pin trading bags that collectors carry. To that end, Little League released a statement, exclusive to the Williamsport Sun-Gazette.

“We understand and appreciate that pin trading is a popular tradition during the Little League World Series and that spectators from around the globe take part in this activity annually. While there is no designated on-site fan pin-trading tent or designated area available during Little League Baseball World Series, we encourage pin traders to enjoy this tradition throughout the complex, including in our Fan Zone where a variety of unique pins are available through our Official Sponsors. We look forward to continued development of our complex and that we hope to continue unique pin trading activities in the future,” Little League said.

While the action may have shifted from the shadows of Lamade Stadium to a downtown hotel ballroom, the decades-long tradition of pin trading looks set to endure for many decades more.