# Baseball replacement thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [January 1, 2008, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-replacement-thread/431884 "2008-01-01T15:32:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2008, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-replacement-thread/431884/1 "2008-01-01T15:32:47Z")
Nice thread, **Gfactor**! Oops, it’s [here](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mbaseballs.html). A positive outcome of using so many balls in a professional game is that some little leagues have deals with the teams and they get the balls after they are slightly used. White baseballs are expensive and it can make a big difference to a LL. I never realized what a short life baseballs had until someone mentioned it. Then, I watched closely and sure enough, some balls only last a few pitches, especially ground balls. ETA- I suppose it also helps to stymie the pitchers who scuff balls in their gloves… ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2008, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-replacement-thread/431884/2 "2008-01-01T16:23:48Z")
How exactly did they “pressure” fans to return foul balls, back in the day? Were there officials out in the stands putting the muscle on folks who caught them? Nifty column, Gfactor, even for a casual fan like me. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2008, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-replacement-thread/431884/3 "2008-01-01T17:24:25Z")
[QUOTE=EJsGirl] I never realized what a short life baseballs had until someone mentioned it. Then, I watched closely and sure enough, some balls only last a few pitches, especially ground balls.. [/QUOTE] Pretty much any ball that has touched the ground or a bat is replaced. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2008, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-replacement-thread/431884/4 "2008-01-01T19:44:24Z")
[QUOTE=LawMonkey] How exactly did they “pressure” fans to return foul balls, back in the day? Were there officials out in the stands putting the muscle on folks who caught them? [/QUOTE] Well, for a while “foul balls could be redeemed for free admission to another game and the returned balls were put back into play.” [http://www.fogdog.com/fog-the-history-of-the-baseball--bg-527303.html](http://www.fogdog.com/fog-the-history-of-the-baseball--bg-527303.html) They also tried more coercive methods: > [@](#): > > During the Phils’ win, 11-year-old Robert Cotter—who snuck into the stadium in a way the Inquirer described as “a method known only to small boys slipping past a guard when that official was looking elsewhere”—made a nice catch of a foul ball, drawing cheers from the crowd. He pocketed the ball. > > Baseballs cost $1.50 in 1923. When one landed in the stands, fans were expected to return them to the ball club. > > After the Black Sox scandal of 1919, baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis changed the rules of the game, and baseball entered the lively ball era. Previously the same baseball had been used all game, allowing pitchers to scuff it up, making it harder to hit. Now baseballs were changed at the first sign of wear, leading to an explosion of hits and runs—and more foul balls. > > There were previous incidents of fans keeping foul balls—most notably a 31-year-old stockbroker named Reuben Berman who kept a foul ball at the Polo Grounds in 1921. He was ejected, sued the Giants and won. [http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/view.php?id=14927](http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/view.php?id=14927) I referred to these cases and the rule named after Reuben Berman here: [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mpossess910.htm](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mpossess910.htm) ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2008, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-replacement-thread/431884/5 "2008-01-01T20:46:30Z")
$1.50 for a ball? What was the price of admission and the average gate? ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2008, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-replacement-thread/431884/6 "2008-01-01T23:42:08Z")
In one game in 1920, the Dodgers’ Leon Cadore and the Braves’ Joe Oeschger–neither of them known to me to be a spitball pitcher–went the distance in a 26-inning game, a 1-1 tie called due to darkness. Oeschger survived into the 60s and commented on a game the Giants won over the Mets, that went 23 innings until the Giants won, 8-6. The two teams used about 20 dozen baseballs in that game. “We used only 22 [balls],” Oeschger commented. As late as 1953, the St. Louis Browns suffered a baseball shortage in a game: They were heavily in debt when they wound up their last season, with the White Sox. They were so short of money they could not afford to take batting practice because they barely had enough balls for the game itself. The White Sox were aware of the situation and allowed the Browns to use some old, scuffed balls. The umpires were aware too, and allowed balls to remain in play long after they would otherwise have been removed from the game. There is another rule requiring the umpire to inspect a ball after it has been hit off a wall. I don’t know if that rule is still in effect since my rule book is 40 years old. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2008, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-replacement-thread/431884/7 "2008-01-02T00:09:14Z")
[QUOTE=John W. Kennedy] $1.50 for a ball? What was the price of admission and the average gate? [/QUOTE] > [@](#): > > Increases in admission charges to all major league baseball parks in the United States for the coming season were decided upon at a conference here to-day of American and National league club owners. It was decided to increase the price of 25 cent seats to 30 cents, 50 cent seats to 55 cents, 75 cent seats to 85 cents and the dollar seals to $1.10. _The Bridgeport Telegram_, February 15, 1918 _And see_, [http://books.google.com/books?id=1bvhlgP\_OTwC&pg=PA57&dq=baseball+gate&lr=&ei=ydR6R93DBpXIiQHCqL3GCQ&sig=EaZVOHI2yTOnaa5XZywfYY0T5OU](http://books.google.com/books?id=1bvhlgP_OTwC&pg=PA57&dq=baseball+gate&lr=&ei=ydR6R93DBpXIiQHCqL3GCQ&sig=EaZVOHI2yTOnaa5XZywfYY0T5OU) (discussing gate sharing arrangements).