The sixteen inch balls do get soft after they've been used for a
while. But in organized leagues, a new ball is used for every game.
And back in the sixties and fifties, the game was played without
mitts. A lot of teams were stocked with body-builder types who
hammered the ball with leaded bats. They were like cannon balls.
Catching one took some guts. Third basemen were all real men:-).
Former White Sox slugger, Dave Nicholson, was a 16-inch softball
player. It's said that he once hit one out of Comiskey Park. That's
probably the equivalent of hitting an ordinary baseball 600 feet. Of
course he also hit an ordinary baseball over the roof of Comiskey
Park. It landed in the parking lot, close to 600 feet from home plate.
Paul
On Jun 8, 2009, at 5:28 PM, Bob Sullivan wrote:
Bill,
To clarify:
Major league baseball is played with a hardball, probably a 6 inch
circumference.
Softball is played with a 12 inch or 16 inch ball.
12 inch fast pitch (underhand but still) is a wicked game and the
ball is hard.
As kids, the 16 inch ball got pretty soft after a couple of summers.
Are we on the same page?
Regards, Bob S.
On Mon, Jun 8, 2009 at 10:14 AM, William Robb<war...@gmail.com> wrote:
----- Original Message ----- From: "Paul Stenquist"
Subject: Re: another completely useless off topic question -Roller
Bat/RollerBall
I don't know if sixteen inches is an accurate circumference
measurement
of the Chicago "Clincher" balls. The diameter appears to be
closer to seven
inches. They're pretty substantial. And hard as a rock when new.
We call those things "softballs" here, and the smaller baseballs we
call
"hardballs". I suspect this has nothing to do with the ball itself,
and more
to do with the way the ball is used.
William Robb
--
PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List
PDML@pdml.net
http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above
and
follow the directions.
--
PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List
PDML@pdml.net
http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above
and follow the directions.
--
PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List
PDML@pdml.net
http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow
the directions.
