Someones lying...

[murphusa]

well for Babe Ruth's 600th HR there were two balls

[irishdenny]

Originally Posted by murphusa

well for Babe Ruth's 600th HR there were two balls

That was my 1st thought... Can this be one of those times... when, for some freak reason, there are 2 balls? Then I thought, Nahhh

[yanks12025]

Originally Posted by murphusa

well for Babe Ruth's 600th HR there were two balls

I never heard that before, can some give a link to it. Thanks

[murphusa]

Originally Posted by yanks12025

I never heard that before, can some give a link to it. Thanks

Ruth asked the clubhouse man to go out and find the ball he hit for no 600. The guy came back with a kid and the kid gave Ruth the ball he had caught. Ruth gave the kid an autographed ball.

5 minutes latter another kid came into the clubhouse with a ball saying the same as the first kid.

Ruth did the same as the first.

Gehrig BTW hit one in his at bat after Ruth.

you can find the story in the Sporting News Archieves

[packs]

This was maybe 10 years ago but my dad caught a Ken Griffey Jr. foul ball at old Yankee stadium. The ball was filthy. Have they changed the way they prep balls for games now? Seems unlikely they would be WHITE. This ball my dad caught looked like it had come out of the beast from The Sandlot's mouth.

[workonwood]

They still rub them the same way...same stuff! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-elLn...eature=related

[thecatspajamas]

Zack Hample's book "The Baseball" has a good write-up of an interview he did with one of the clubhouse personnel who was responsible for rubbing up balls before the game (don't have the book with me, and can't recall which team). The gist of it is that, although the same mud is used consistently, there can be inconsistencies depending on who is rubbing up the ball and which balls are selected for game use. When the ball was pulled (or hit) from play can also have an effect on how "dirty" it appears, and for sure balls nowadays are pulled much more quickly than in Ruth's day.

I'm not sure if these factors would account for one ball being "filthy" and another "near pristine", but you would expect at least some range of "dirtiness" rather than a consistent level of "dingy" in the overall scheme of things.

[BrandonG]

Here's some game used baseballs from Angel stadium. These are either foul balls or balls in the dirt replaced between pitches. They are consistently rubbed with Lena Blackburn Rubbing Mud.