How many baseballs are used in a “typical” major league ballgame? From the first Play Ball to the bottom of the ninth, it seems like there are hundreds used, what with all the homers, fouls, scuffed balls and fan appreciation balls. Who pays for these… is it the home club or the league? Are they all the same brand and if so how come none of the other baseball manufacturers are screaming Monopoly!
Retiring minds want to know
I read in a trivia book that an average game uses about 70 balls. Home club provides the game balls … in the 70s the Athletics owner painted one part of the ball green and the other gold as a promotional gimmick, until it was outlawed. They are all Rawlings, MLB requires them to be from the same maufacturer for consistency reasons … ie, one might have a propesnity to be hit farther. Another interesting thing about the baseballs, they are all coated and rubbed down with a special white clay from a certain location in … Europe, I think.
The mud to rub up baseball’s comes from the good old U.S. of A.
I believe it is taken from a secret location somewhere in the Delaware River.
70 might be a little low for a baseball game now as umpires seem to throw balls out of the game at the slightest whim now.