June 24, 2014
The Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and Museum
is Proud to Present:
“On the Ball: A Collection of Heads of State Signatures”
featuring the Randy L. Kaplan Collection of Autographed
Baseballs from World Leaders and Heads of State
(June 24, 2014) Long Island, New York. — The Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and Museum in Austin, Texas is pleased to announce that from June 24, 2014 through December 14, 2014, it will exhibiting a portion of the internationally recognized Randy L. Kaplan Collection of autographed baseballs from world leaders and heads of state. The exhibit, “On the Ball: A Collection of Heads of State” features 116 signed baseballs from leaders, both past and present, from all over the globe, including the late South African President Nelson Mandela, former leaders Mikhail Gorbachev and Margaret Thatcher as well as the nation’s sitting President Barack Obama.
Randy, who is a governmental affairs specialist in New York, has been collecting signed baseballs from world leaders and heads of state since 1996 when then President Bill Clinton signed a baseball for him at a meeting in Washington, D.C.
This unique idea to begin a collection of signed baseballs from Presidents and world leaders came to Randy after seeing a display of opening day baseballs that were ceremoniously tossed by former U.S. Presidents at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY
Over the years Randy has been able to meet, greet and persuade many world leaders to sign official Rawlings Major League baseballs for his unique collection. His goal to have this collection on display in the National Archives and Records Administration’s Presidential Library system became reality in 2008 when the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan, exhibited a portion of his collection in the “Born to Play Ball” exhibit.
The interesting twist on this collection is that all of these baseballs were received in person by Randy or obtained through the assistance of a top government official such as NY Congressman Gregory Meeks who surprised Randy by having former South African President Nelson Mandela sign a baseball for him at a Congressional Black Caucus Meeting Washington, D.C. in 2005.
According to Randy, “The collection has taken on a life of its own. Almost everyone who I ask is honored to sign a baseball. It is as if every political figure secretly yearned to be a professional ballplayer, at least that is what most of them tell me!”
A portion of Randy’s collection is currently on exhibit at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California and has previously been exhibited at the William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock, Arkansas in 2012 and at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 2008.
It has been featured on ESPN.com; the BBC Radio Network; the Jordana Green Show on WCCO 830AM in Minneapolis; Newsday; The Ellis Henican column; News 12 Long Island, Autograph Collector Magazine, The Pen and the Quill, as well as on the Imus in the Morning show on MSNBC.
Attached is the list of all 116 baseballs that will be on exhibit at the LBJ Presidential Library and Museum.
Signed Baseballs from World Leaders and Heads of State
- Hamid Karzai President (2004- ) Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
- *Cristina Fernández de Kirchner President (2007 – ) Argentine Republic
- Kevin Rudd Prime Minister (2007-2010) Commonwealth of Australia
- *Julia Gillard Prime Minister (2010-2013)Commonwealth of Australia
- Dr. Heinz Fischer President (2004- ) Republic of Austria
- Mathieu Kérékou President (1996-2006) Republic of Benin
- Nebojša Radmanović President (2012- 2013) Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Željko Komšić President (2013- )Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Fernando Cardosa President (2013- ) Federative Republic of Brazil
- Petar Stoyanov President (1997 – 2002) Republic of Bulgaria
- Pierre Trudeau Prime Minister (1968-1979) Canada
- Brian Mulroney Prime Minister (1984-1993) Canada
- Stephen Harper Prime Minister (2006 – ) Canada
- Pedro Pires President (2001-2011) Republic of Cabo (Cape) Verde
- Sebastián Piñera President (2010-2014) Republic of Chile
- *Michelle Bachelet President (2014- ) Republic of Chile
- Álvaro Uribe Velez President (2002-2010) Republic of Colombia
- Juan Manuel Santos President (2010- ) Republic of Colombia
- Óscar Arias President (2006-2010) Republic of Costa Rica
- *Laura Chinchilla President (2014- ) Republic of Costa Rica
- Václav Havel President (1993-2003) Czech Republic
- Václav Klaus President (2008-2013) Czech Republic
- Anders Fogh Rasmussen Prime Minister (2001-1009) Kingdom of Denmark
- Leonel Fernández President (2004- ) Dominican Republic
- Alfredo Palacio President (2005-2007) Republic of Ecuador
- Toomas Hendrik Ilves President (2006- ), Republic of Estonia
- Meles Zenawi Prime Minister (1995-2012) Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
- Hailemariam Desalegn Prime Minister (2012- ) Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
- Martti Ahtisaari President (1994-2000), Republic of Finland
- Jacques Chirac President (1995-2007) French Republic
- François Hollande President (2012- ) French Republic
- Eduard Shevardnadze President (1995-2003) Georgia
- Irakli Garibashvili Prime Minister (2013- ) Georgia
- Helmut Schmidt Chancellor (1974-1982) Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany)
- Helmut Kohl Chancellor (1982-1990) Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany)
- Chancellor (1990-1998) Federal Republic of Germany (Unified Germany)
- Gerhard Schroeder Chancellor (1998-2005) Federal Republic of Germany
- *Angela Merkel Chancellor (2005- ) Federal Republic of Germany
- Jerry John Rawlings President (1993-2001) Republic of Ghana
- Tillman Thomas Prime Minister (2008-2013) Grenada
- Antonis Samaras Prime Minister (2012- ) Hellenic Republic (Greece)
- *Mary Robinson President (1990-1997) Republic of Ireland
- Brian T. Cowen Taoiseach (2008-2011) Republic of Ireland
- Enda Kenny Taoiseach (2011- ) Republic of Ireland
- Shimon Peres President (2007- ) State of Israel
- Yitzhak Shamir Prime Minister (1986-1992) State of Israel
- Yitzhak Rabin Prime Minister (1992-1995) State of Israel
- Benjamin Netanyahu Prime Minister (2009- ) State of Israel
- Mario Monti Prime Minister (2011-2013) Italian Republic
- Enrico Letta Prime Minister (2013-2014) Italian Republic
- Shinzo Abe Prime Minister (2012- ) State of Japan
- His Majesty Hussein bin Talal King (1952-1999) Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
- His Majesty Abdullah II bin al-Hussein King (1999- ) Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
- Raila Odinga Prime Minister (2008-2013) Republic of Kenya
- *Atifete Jahjaga President (2011- ) Republic of Kosovo
- Cassam Uteem President (1992-2002) Republic of Mauritius
- Ernesto Zedillo President (1994-2000) United Mexican States
- Vicente Fox President (2000-2006) United Mexican States
- Felipe Calderón President (2006-2012) United Mexican States
- His Excellency Joseph J. Urusema President (2003-2007) Federated States of Micronesia
- His Excellency Emanuel “Manny” Mori President (2007- ) Federated States of Micronesia
- His Serene Highness Albert II Prince (2005- ) Principality of Monaco
- Willem “Wim” Kok Jr. Prime Minister (1994-2002) Netherlands
- *Helen Clark Prime Minister (1999-2008) New Zealand
- Ọlúségun Ọbásanjọ́ President (1999-2007) Federal Republic of Nigeria
- *Gro Harlem Brundtland Prime Minister (1990-1996) Kingdom of Norway
- *Benazir Bhutto Prime Minister (1995-1996) Islamic Republic of Pakistan
- Pervez Musharraf President (2001-2008) Islamic Republic of Pakistan
- Alan Garcia Pérez President (2006-2010) Republic of Peru
- *Corazón Aquino President (1986-1992) Republic of the Philippines
- * Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo President (2001-2010) Republic of the Philippines
- Lech Wałęsa President (1990-1995) Republic of Poland
- Aleksander Kwaśniewski President (1995-2005) Republic of Poland
- Jorge Sampaio President (1996-2006) Portuguese Republic
- Anibal Cavaco Silva President (2006- ) Portuguese Republic
- His Highness Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani Emir (2013–present) State of Qatar
- Ralph Gonsalves Prime Minister (2001- ) St. Vincent and the Grenadines
- Macky Sall President (2011- ) Republic of Senegal
- Borut Pahor President (2012- ) Republic of Sloveni
- Hassan Sheikh Mohamud President (2012- ) Federal Republic of Somalia
- F.W. de Klerk State President (1984-1994) Republic of South Africa
- Nelson Mandela President (1994-1999) Republic of South Africa
- Jacob Zuma President (2009- ) Republic of South Africa
- Kim Dae-jung President (1998-2003) Republic of Korea (South Korea)
- Lee Myung-bak President (2008-2013) Republic of Korea (South Korea)
- José Maria Aznar Prime Minister (1996-2004) Kingdom of Spain
- Chen Shui-Bian President (2000-2008) Republic of China (Taiwan)
- Benjamin Mkapa President (1995-2006) United Republic of Tanzania
- His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso Dalia Lama (1950- ) Central Tibetan Administration (Govt in Exile)
- Mehdi Jomaa Prime Minister (2014- ) Tunisian Republic
- Abdullah Gül President (2007- ) Republic of Turkey
- Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Prime Minister (2003- ) Republic of Turkey
- *Margaret Thatcher Prime Minister (1979-90) United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- John Major Prime Minister (1990-1997) United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- Tony Blair Prime Minister (1997-2007) United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- David Cameron Prime Minister (2010- ) United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- Mikhail Gorbachev President (1990-1991) United Soviet Socialist Republics (Russia)
- Richard M. Nixon President (1969-1974) United States of America
- Gerald R. Ford President (1974-1976) United States of America
- Betty Ford First Lady (1974-1976)
- Jimmy Carter President (1976-1981) United States of America
- Rosalynn Carter First Lady (1976-1981)
- Walter Mondale Vice President (1976-1981)
- Ronald Reagan President (1981-1989) United States of America
- Nancy Reagan First Lady (1981-1989)
- George H.W. Bush President (1989-1993) United States of America
- Barbara Bush First Lady (1989-1993)
- Dan Quayle Vice President (1989-1993)
- Bill Clinton President (1993-2001) United States of America
- Hillary R. Clinton First Lady (1993-2001)
- Al Gore Vice President (1993-2001)
- George W. Bush President (2001-2009) United States of America
- Laura Bush First Lady (2001-2009)
- Dick Cheney Vice President (2001-2009)
- Barack Obama President (2009- ) United States of America
- Michelle Obama First Lady (2009- )
- Joe Biden Vice President (2009- )
