Please help ID this Special League Ball

[oldirtyfishkilla]

Hi all. So I picked up this ball at an antiques store this week and have had little luck in finding any information about it.

What I do know is that it is a black and red stitched ball with "Official Special League, Rubber Center" stamped on the sweet spot, "Official Trade Mark" stamped on the top panel and "Horsehide Cover, 5 oz 9 in, compressed wool, machine wound, No. 962) on the bottom panel. The ball is also signed on both the side panel and sweet spot and looks like it may have been chewed on by a dog.

The info I did find is that it is either an "Worth" or "Official" branded ball and the manufacture date could be anywhere from the 1920's-1950's.

Can anyone help as it would be greatly appreciated?? Photos below and the scanner made the ball lopsided.

ball1.jpg
ball2.jpg
ball3.jpg

[Duluth Eskimo]

Is that Spud Murray on the panel? I would guess 1950-60's if so.

[oldirtyfishkilla]

Duluth, I have no idea if that is Spud but I will check exemplars.. thanks for the ID though.

What I'm really looking for is the manufacture date of the ball or info about the ball itself.

Thanks so much!

[thecatspajamas]

If you're looking for info about the ball, it might help to show all of the stampings on the ball (top and bottom panels that are only partially visible in the photos provided).

Generally speaking, a photo of the stamping serves much better than a verbal description.

[oldirtyfishkilla]

Here are the scans of the top and bottom panel stamps...

ball4.jpg
ball5.jpg

[oldirtyfishkilla]

Can anyone help please?

[thecatspajamas]

The logo on top does match that of early Worth baseballs, as seen on this example:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-1920...item19df2f255b

The red/blue stitching would suggest a date much earlier than 1950's. More likely to be 1920's-30's. Unfortunately, I don't have any catalogs or model number information for Worth baseballs of any era to be able to put a definitive date range on the ball itself.

Any way you can show a clearer view of the signature on the side panel? Looks like 3 lines of inscription then signed what? Eddie Warren? Soddi Murray? No idea based on what I can see. The one on the sweet spot seems to be a lost cause, having been well-obscured by Fido.

[oldirtyfishkilla]

Lance,

Thanks for the input and I will send a better scan of the signatures. I really appreciate the help!