Baseball : What is it?
| A baseball is made up of the inner core, the outer shell cover, and the outside stitching. The innermost core is a pill shaped like a small sphere made of cork, rubber, or similar material. The pill is enclosed in a rubber shell wound tightly with three layers of yarn and finished with a winding of polyester or cotton yarn. To keep the baseball even tighter, a finishing yarn is applied, which forms the baseball’s core. The core is dipped in latex cement to keep the layers together. This also provides a tacky surface to adhere the cover to the core during the sewing process.
The baseball cover is traditionally made of the highest quality leather, and this is still the case with professional baseballs. High quality leather--usually alum-tanned leather from horsehide--provides good sewing characteristics, durability upon impact, and a soft supple feel. Split leather is an alternative to high quality leather, and it is often used to make lower cost leather baseballs. Baseballs with synthetic covers are also commercially available, and they are popular among beginners or little league players. Two stripes of hide are hand-stitched to the core using cotton thread in a 104-stitch pattern.
According to the Major League Baseball's official rules for baseballs, baseballs should not weigh less than five ounces or more than five and one-fourth ounces and measure less than nine inches or more than nine and one-fourth inches in circumference. |
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Kinds of Baseballs include the following: |
Cork Baseballs
Cork is the traditional material used for baseball cores. It is the core material of choice in Major League baseball.
Cork core baseballs are made up of cushioned cork cores wrapped in a thin layer of premium rubber and further wrapped in wool and cotton threads.
At least 85% wool winding is required for Major League baseballs.
Rubber Baseballs
Rubber core baseballs are more economical than traditional cork core baseballs.
They can be made of cork-and-rubber or black rubber cores.
They may not last when used rigorously and frequently.
Polyurethane Baseballs
Polyurethane core baseballs are relatively lighter and do not hit as hard as the other types of baseballs.
They are also called Reduce Injury Factor (R.I.F.) baseballs.
They can be made in official or reduced weights in different grades for hardness, depending on the player’s age and level of experience. |
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Cover: Choose a baseball with a leather cover for superior grip with a soft and supple feel. A leather cover provides consistency, durability, performance, and shape maintenance. However, you can choose one with a synthetic cover for practice games, so you can save on costs and save the high quality balls for actual games. If you are on a budget, choose a baseball with a synthetic cover. It is less expensive, but it performs as well as one with a leather cover. It is also easy to maintain because it resists dirt and water and maintains its color for a long time.
Seam: Choose a baseball with a standard-seam or rolled-seam because it is flatter, provides less air resistance, and ideal for actual games and everyday plays. Youth players should choose a baseball with a raised seam because it provides a better feel that can develop pitching skills, and grips air currents that make it easier to control.
Safety: Choose a baseball with an R.I.F or Reduced Injury Factor especially for youth players. The polyurethane core of an R.I.F baseball does not hurt as much upon impact, helping beginner players overcome their fear of the ball. Choose one that performs like regular baseball and can bounce and roll the same way.
Wool winding: Choose a baseball with a core made with a high percentage of wool windings because it makes the baseball return to its shape upon impact. |
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