Early Figure 8 Baseball

[ruth-gehrig]

This early figure eight baseball has me intrigued. It appears that the original ball was covered up with a figure eight configuration. The baseball weighs 2.05 ounces and is 8.44 inches in circumference. It's obvious the outside surface isn't in great shape and the ball itself can somewhat be maneuvered (slowly and carefully) around to determine the original baseball's stitching configuration.

The original stitching on the ball appears to be a hybrid between a lemon peel and figure eight. Hard to describe and difficult to really determine because I can only see a small area of the ball as I try to carefully rotate it around.

Although Im relatively new to early baseball collecting Ive never seen anything like this. I don't really see it being very common for someone to update an older version of a baseball with an entirely new leather covering. Why not just repair it? BTW the original baseball appears to have some broke and loose stitching although no leather damage. That further questions me as to why the stitching wouldnt have just been repaired.

Anyone seen anything like this??

Thanks again!
Michael

[vintagesportscollector]

Cool example. All these balls were simply hand made by countless number of people, using any sort of leather and stitching to cobble it together into a ball that can be used. Anyone’s guess on the intent behind what was done for this ball. Possibly the original ball was too thin and fragile so they wanted to make it stronger by doubling up on the layers.

[perezfan]

Or perhaps the ball turned out smaller than intended, so they added an extra layer of leather to get it to the desired size. Neat early example!

[khkco4bls]

I think the first layer was just coming apart and they put another layer over it and then beat the shit out of that one..

[ruth-gehrig]

Thanks guys for the explanations. Greatly appreciated!
Michael