A while back, I got into this whole baseball thing. I mean, I really went all in. Bought myself a bat, a glove, the whole nine yards. I even joined a local league. One day, during practice, I started wondering, “How long does a baseball even last?” I mean, we’re hitting these things with a solid piece of wood, so they must take a beating, right?
So, I started paying more attention. I noticed that after a few good hits, the ball would start to look a bit rough, like they had been in a fight. The seams would get a little loose, and sometimes the cover would get scuffed up. We’d usually swap out the ball after maybe five, six, or seven pitches, sometimes more if it’s just a light toss around.
- I did a bit of digging, just out of curiosity, you know?
- Turns out, in the big leagues, they use a ball for only about 5-7 pitches on average!
- That’s not a lot at all.
- Of course, if someone hits a home run or a foul ball, that ball’s pretty much done for that game, I think they give those to fans as a little gift.
I also found out that these baseballs are made of leather, cork, and rubber. No wonder they can get messed up so easily. I guess when you whack something that hard with a bat, it’s bound to show some wear and tear.
Then there’s the whole deal with extra innings. If a game goes into overtime, they’re gonna use a lot more baseballs. I’ve seen some games go on for, like, four or five hours. That’s a whole lotta pitches, and a whole lotta baseballs. Most of the time games last 3 hours though.
My Experiment
I even tried a little experiment myself. I bought a few different brands of baseballs, some of those Rawlings ones with the leather covers, and some cheaper ones. I wanted to see if there was any real difference. They told me to get the leather covers, they are only $5-8 each. They said to not get Diamond baseballs even though they are leather covers too, because they don’t last. I used them in my practice sessions, kept track of how many pitches each one lasted. The good ones, like the Rawlings ones, definitely held up longer. They could take a beating and still be okay for a few more rounds. The cheaper ones, well, let’s just say they didn’t last very long. A few solid hits and they were already falling apart.
In the end, I realized that a baseball’s lifespan isn’t really that long, especially when it’s getting smacked around by a bunch of guys with bats. But that’s part of the game, I guess. It’s like a little reminder that nothing lasts forever, not even a baseball. And that’s kinda cool, in a way.
