Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 181, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 August 1911 — SHOWED OLD BALL LIVELIER [ARTICLE]

SHOWED OLD BALL LIVELIER

Boston People Experiment Aflor Doubting RooHlenoy of New Sphere—Tost Causes Confusion. *

There has been much controversy among baseball players and baseball tea this -season regarding the ball now In use In* the major leagues, the disputants lining np on the question whether the ball sow in use If or 1b not livelier than the one used last sear

son. y Many claim that the high batting averages of some of the players at the preemit tl|he are due to the livelier ball, while others claim that they are due to the Ineffectiveness of the pitchers and that the ball la no livelier than the one used last season.

Of course, If the manufacturers will not settle the doubt it would be necessary to subject the balls to scientific tests and examination in order to definitely determine the facts, and even then balls which were supposed to be identical In make might show a difference in resiliency because it probably Is not possible that any two of them are exactly alike.

Some testa were made the other day with two balls, one of them issued for use In the American league late last season, and one that was Issued for the season of 1911. These were dropped from a height of 15 feet simultaneously. They struck a concrete floor at as nearly the same Instant as they could be made to do so, and they were photographed at the moment they had reached the extreme height of the rebound.

It was found that the ball Issued for last season bounded higher than !the one Issued for this season, the diference in height being clearly shown In the photograph. Several other tests were made and Invariably the 1910 ball proved to be the livelier. These tests with only two balls are absolutely decisive of nothing as regards the general proposition, but they Bhow clearly enough that the ball that was issued in 1910 was, In this particular case, livelier 'than the one issued for 1911. Whether a series of experiments more accurately and scientifically made would show the same or opposite results remains to be seen. The experiment made recently would seem to confuse the problem still further, for the players generally [say that the ball is livelier this year than It was last.