I've been making baseballs for over 40 years.

Growing up in Cooperstown, New York, I had two all-consuming passions: making things and playing baseball.

I was 12 when I made my first baseball.  I removed the cover of an old baseball to use as a pattern.  With odd leather scraps and make-due thread, I stitched a new cover onto the old baseball core.  It was a disaster.  The stitch holes were mis-aligned, and the cover was baggy.  The leather and thread were all wrong, and the pattern was imperfect.  The result was unsightly, but I had a vision.

Over time I gained knowledge.  Access to better tools and materials helped to fuel my interest, but a suitable baseball pattern was out of reach.

Success came when I encountered the historic "lemon peel" style "base ball".  Using basic geometry, I designed a pattern for this historic style.  I felt that the lemon peel style had commercial potential, so as a branding experiment, I created and trademarked the "Lemon Ball" baseball.
I launched a small business to create, promote, and sell this ball. It was very well received on a small scale and the positive signs were obvious. Thus Leather Head Sports was born. 

An acceptable pattern for a modern "figure 8" style baseball was elusive, but I did receive a strange bit of good luck along the way.
Out of the blue, I was contacted by an old sports ball maker in Australia.  He noticed the work that I was doing and he offered to sell me his cutting dies.  The price was so ridiculously low, that I jumped at the offer.  Most of the dies were for archaic soccer balls and rugby balls, but included in the mix was a baseball die.

Over the years, Leather Head Sports has grown and evolved.  We have developed a broad range of skill, expertise, and a stable of remarkable sports balls.
At our core is the love of making baseballs.  As a kid from Cooperstown, baseball is my original inspiration and my first love.

I always felt that the baseball itself represents a beautiful, tactile, sculptural form; in essence, a canvas for unlimited interpretation.  My vision has always included using the baseball as a vehicle to showcase beautiful leather and craftmanship. 

Off Speed Stitch is Dante Santiago's idea.  Dante is a Leather Head Sports master craftsman and we share a vision for what baseballs can be. 

We launched Off Speed Stitch in collaboration to bring our vision for beautiful, exotic, and creatively conceived baseballs to life.

-Paul Cunningham
Glen Rock, NJ
Opening Day; March 30, 2023

Off Speed Stitch
536 S. Broad St.
Glen Rock, NJ 07452

201-857-4647