rising interest --3/7/25

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Today's selection--from The War of the Baseball Magnates by Timothy J. Zarley. The original baseballs. 

“While both the American and National Leagues were deal­ing with issues, the baseball situation seemed good, and a claim had been made that interest in the game during the current season was greater than at any time since the first great dia­mond wars of 1890. Evidence could be found in the trade of parapher­nalia which was a good barometer of the popularity of the national sport. The output of balls, mitts, and gloves broke all records in 1901. By July, the figures of 1900 had already been eclipsed by 25 percent and there were still over two months of the season yet to run.

“In Philadelphia one of the more unique institutions was the A.J. Reach Company. Nine-tenths of all of the baseballs manufactured in the United States came from the factory and there was no secret that both the National and American League balls were made from the same molds—one given a Spalding stamp and the other a Reach stamp. The balls were stitched with different colored thread, but both were made with the same machines upon which Ben Shibe held the original patents. 

United States Patent No. 422,127 by Ben Shibe for a baseball cover

“Proof that interest in amateur ball was thriving could be shown in the shipment of 36,000 pairs of the cheapest fielders' gloves — the sort that boys used and sold for a quarter. In addition, 336,000 assorted mitts and gloves had been sent out with pending orders that had yet to be filled. Then there were the 2,400,000 balls that had been made with the machines still turning them out. All of this showed how much the American boy loved the game.

“There were secrets in every trade. In baseball, one of them was that the manufacturer lost money on every cheap ball they sold. Each one turned out was hand sewn and the balls bought by the youngsters for a nickel cost the manufacturer more than what they got for them. The key, however, was that in order to stock up with the cheap balls, a dealer would have to buy a whole line of the better goods which would counteract the loss. It took the average workman 15 minutes to sew the cover on a League ball, while most of the other steps in the process were done by machines which worked automatically to ensure a uniform weight and size. The cheap balls were made of flock, the woolen waste that carpet factories would throw away, and were turned out by pressure in a 40-ton machine at a rate of 45 a minute.”

author:	Timothy J. Zarley
title:	1901: The War of the Baseball Magnates: How the battle for baseball supremacy shaped the future of America's pastime.
publisher:	Yelraz Publishing
pages:	206-208