Leathery balls
Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 11:57 am
You know, we get through quite a lot of balls, and the cost of buying them has so far been borne largely by a handful of people: Rich, Scott (in addition to all the money he's spent on other things, a very substantial amount all together) Dave L and myself. Leather balls are expensive, and we all hate using synthetics in-game.
I think we can reduce some of our wastage by being careful only to use synthetics during all warmups (including between innings) as at this time the ball is more likely to be dropped onto wet and/or muddy ground in the outfield. To this end I have some cheap, not at all for in-game use sythetic balls coming that I bought on eBay. Actually they are photoballs of one of baseballs best lead-off men, which I got for just $0.83 each. Can you guess who it is? Anyway, they can't be used in-game, as they are a green color. But they are the correct size and weight, and so should be fine for warmups. If they get wet and/or muddy, who cares?
Also for in-game use I have some good leather balls on the way, which I managed to get for $24.75 a dozen, a good price. There are cheaper leather balls out there, to be sure, but unlike men, they are not all created equal. On the other hand, there is not much point for us to use the top of the line balls, as we simply lose too many.
Anyway, I am not asking for contributions, I am just asking you to please not use a leather ball for warmup unless it is already very dirty.
If you can't remember to do that, buy some balls!
Also, broken stitches can be fixed, I got a couple tubes of some special glue for this purpose. Haven't tried it out yet, but for now please do not use balls with broken stiches for warmup either, leather or synthetic.
I think we can reduce some of our wastage by being careful only to use synthetics during all warmups (including between innings) as at this time the ball is more likely to be dropped onto wet and/or muddy ground in the outfield. To this end I have some cheap, not at all for in-game use sythetic balls coming that I bought on eBay. Actually they are photoballs of one of baseballs best lead-off men, which I got for just $0.83 each. Can you guess who it is? Anyway, they can't be used in-game, as they are a green color. But they are the correct size and weight, and so should be fine for warmups. If they get wet and/or muddy, who cares?
Also for in-game use I have some good leather balls on the way, which I managed to get for $24.75 a dozen, a good price. There are cheaper leather balls out there, to be sure, but unlike men, they are not all created equal. On the other hand, there is not much point for us to use the top of the line balls, as we simply lose too many.
Anyway, I am not asking for contributions, I am just asking you to please not use a leather ball for warmup unless it is already very dirty.
If you can't remember to do that, buy some balls!
Also, broken stitches can be fixed, I got a couple tubes of some special glue for this purpose. Haven't tried it out yet, but for now please do not use balls with broken stiches for warmup either, leather or synthetic.
He doesn't know these things!