Baseballs

MLB Baseballs. 8/30/26 dwm

 I've been going to baseball games since I was 7 or 8 years old, which is when Dad took me to see the Milwaukee Brewers play in person at Milwaukee County Stadium.

 Like every other kid, I was hoping a ball would come my way. I was disappointed almost every time.

 The first baseball that came our way was in 1990 when we took Matthew to see a game for his birthday. 

 Our seats in the old, iconic Comiskey Park were in the upper deck of the right field stands. Before the game, while the Brewers were taking batting practice, I went down to the railing to see if a Brewer would throw a ball our way. 

 Teddy Higuera, our best pitcher, threw one and I walked away with it for our oldest son. (The youngest was only three months, he went to his first game later.)

1990 baseball. dwm photo

It was a batting practice ball. It may have been used in a game then cycled into the ball bag for practice. It's scuffed from where it hit the metal facing along the outfield wall.

I still have the baseball. It's signed by the American League President, Bobby Brown. At the time the American and National Leagues had their own presidents, rules, umpiring crews, and baseballs.

The other two balls have the signature of Baseball's Commissioner who took over putting their John Hancock on baseballs going forward. 

I'm pretty sure the second one, with Allan H. Selig's signature was part of another baseball birthday for the oldest. In addition to getting his name on the Jumbotron wishing him a Happy Birthday, he got his own baseball.  

A professional pitcher who played in the 19th century didn't care for the quality of the balls they had to play with, so with help from his brother, he developed a ball. Albert G. Spalding made baseballs and moved into other lines of sporting goods. His last name is still a well-known brand when it comes to sports equipment.

A ball from the late 1990s. dwm photo

 Spalding pitched for the Boston Red Caps and Chicago White Stockings, winning 252 and losing 65. In addition to make baseballs, his work on gloves changed the sport forever. Spalding Baseball Day is celebrated every year on September 2.

 Rawlings came along ten years later, and eventually over-took Spalding. Rawlings has been the official supplier of balls to the Major Leagues since 1977. 

 The last baseball was hit to me. As we walked toward Miller Park from the parking lot we reached the outside wall of the stadium under an open window panel when a ball flew out the window bounced once on the concrete and was mine.

 Over the years, baseball fan protocol indicates any adult male catching a ball in the stands must present it to their child or a kid in the area who didn't get one already. I'm pretty sure that men can choose to present the ball to their partner if they are at the game.

Manfred became commish in 2015. dwm

Between 1989 and 1992 we lived in Janesville, Wisconsin and occasionally watched the Beloit Brewers (later the Beloit Snappers) play. I was down the right field line when a ball was popped up and was coming my way. 

I was alone so I figured it would be easy, let it bounce and then claim the ball. That didn't work as the bounce sent it bounding at least 20 feet away into somebody else's hand. 

Other sports don't give away pieces of the game so readily, if a basketball flies into the seats in high school, college, or professional games, the referee wants it back. 

Footballs are difficult to get with nets behind the goalposts at end of the field. If a ball does reach the bleachers, there is a good chance that an usher or security guard might ask for its return. 

In the Majors, sometimes players want their home-run ball and will negotiate with the lucky fan for the ball in exchange for a signed bat and other memorabilia. 

If you're at the ballpark tomorrow, I hope you catch one.