Rawlings, the Official Baseball of Major League Baseball®, has a Tennessee connection thanks to one local tannery. Since the early 1970s, Tullahoma-based Tennessee Tanning Company has crafted the leather used to make Rawlings baseballs used at the MLB level. In fact, every pro game you’ve seen since then features baseballs that originated with the leather produced by the Tennessee company. At the plant, workers tan and dry cowhides before shipping them to Costa Rica, where the balls are sewed and prepared for delivery to Major League teams across the United States. In addition to balls, the company also makes the leather lacing used on many players’ Rawlings gloves.

Photo credit: Tennessee Tanning Company/a division of Rawlings

Learn more about Tennessee Tanning Company at tntanningcompany.com.

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See more: 4 Places to Find Local Leather Goods