AL Ball
 

Can anyone identify this ball? At first glance I thought it read AMERICAN LEAGUE BALL above HORSEHIDE COVER. It may actually read AMATEUR LEAGUE BALL. A little too dirty to be sure. Blue and red alternating stitching. I don't see a Reach or Spalding stamp; nor do I see any President's signature. Ball seems to feel right (i.e. - regulation size and weight). All I am sure of is that it is indeed a baseball, it smells like an antique store and I won't let man's best friend fetch it. Although I did obtain it on St. Patrick's Day, I am not Irish...and my recent ridiculously great luck of ball finds just can't continue like it has...so I am exercising caution before I get excited about this one.:p Please check out the pics.

Have you seen one like this before?
What is it?
Who made it?
Value?

Thanks again.

Curt

It looks like an Anchor Brand ball from the 20s, mid range. In that condition it's probably worth around $50-100 on ebay, give or take. If the other markings are legible it would be on the higher end of the scale.

It definitely says "Amateur League", BTW....

I agree, definately Amateur League, but Curt hold this ball up to an older Ban Johnson OAL ball and I think that you will find the stampings of `American League Ball` & `Amateur League Ball` are identical. Look at the words League Ball, that should tell you. I think its a Reach ball myself. Early 1910-1920. Just my 2 cents...Just have to wait for BG to chime in.

I would disagree that it's a Reach ball B, the stitching is too large and the wrong type of braided material for what they were using in the 1910's-1920's. I think Bill was probably pretty close with the Anchor Brand, or possibly a pennant ball. You can see below how similar things are for those types of baseballs. A lot of variations made but very similar. In any case just a sporting goods model ball, and like Bill said $50-$100 maybe.

Thanks for the input. I've checked it out under different lighting to see if I could find any other printing on it, but there is nothing. To me, it looks most similar to the Anchor ball's printing by size of print. The print of the words Horsehide Cover looks more like the Anchor ball. The ball itself (stitching pattern and material) looks more like the Pennant ball.

I'll probably eBay this one too if interested.

Thanks again.

1920s Amateur League Ball
 

I have this ball out on eBay right now if anyone is interested.

Two days left!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/400294656265...84.m1555.l2649