Long time lurker, first post.... Can someone identify these old Baseballs??

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Posted By: Rich

Hey, thanks for the input guys. No, I have no desire to sell these balls. In fact, I think they are so neat I may have to start collecting them. There can't be a whole lot of these old baseballs in this condition left on the planet. I think I made a good purchase. I was the winning bidder for the lot at $40.

Just another question though, and a few more pictures. I know very little about dating old baseballs, so I was just going by my own experience as a history buff and collector of old junk. I based by 1920's date strictly on the box style and fabric. I found three pictures of other similar old Balls online that helped me make that determination.

If they are 30's - 40's, what was the tip-off? Charactoristics of the ball itself? For educational purposes, maybe somone can look at these photos and the balls, and tell me what they think:


* First is a ball touted to be a "Worth" baseball from the late 1930's - early 1940's. The ball itself is somewhat similar, but the box art style and verbage seems much more 1930-ish than mine. Also, worth balls I've seen from this period seem to have a 2 didget model # (like "90").

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* Second is a "Worth" baseball purported to be from the 1910's - 1920's. It has a similar tape seal but different style box art. The ball itself has red/blue stitching. One thing that stood out for me was the model number ... 912-C. (This is pretty close to 922-C). This ball has printed on it "Guaranteed 27 Innings".)

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* The THIRD one really struck me. It's a ball purportedly from the 1910's produced by "Howard Brand Sporting Goods". While the ball, aside from the trademark, is similar to the older Worth baseball pictured above (red/blue stiching...and down to the "Guaranteed for 27 Innings")...the BOX itself; while a different color; is the same style, and the SAME verbage...word for word, line for line...as my Worth balls!


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I do note that while mine don't have the "Guaranteed 27 Innings" language, that language does appear on my boxes which show the exploded view of the construction of the ball.

Looks to me like Worth may have merged with Howard sometime around 1920. Maybe that's how Worth got into the business of making baseballs? Who kows. Maybe the answers can only be provided by someone at Worth who has access to old records and can say when the model 922-C was produced.

I find this facinating! It seems like the ball looks more 30's-ish, while the box is definately more 10's-20's era. Strange. Feel free to comment.


Rich