Found Softballs

[Ivy's Dad]

My DD and I found a softball in the brush when we were practicing at her middle school softball field yesterday. Of course it was kind of exciting, like finding an Easter Egg, but when I picked it up it felt too heavy. It was probably waterlogged from sitting out in the weather all Summer.

When we got home, I weighed the ball on our postal scale and found it weighed 8.8 ounces, well above the official ball weight of 6.25 to 7.00 ounces. I wanted to throw it out, but my DD insisted on keeping it. I let her keep it, but told her we couldn't use it since it was too heavy.

Make sure you weigh any balls you find before using them. I'm afraid this ball would damage her arm/bat if we actually used it.

 

[livingontheroad]

It depends on the ball construction as to whether it can dry out or not. We throw away dozens of balls per year that get outside our fences into brush and dont get picked up after practice, and get rained on and ruined. you can tell by the weight when you pick them up.

I would gamble that there are some sold on ebay by others that are wet. Unless they were picked up in Arizona or somewhere it seldom rains.

Some have only a very thin string winding under the leather with an almost full size plastic core. These balls can probably actually dry out in a few weeks. Others that have a small core and thick yarn winding never will. OK, never is a long time but it might be years. The compression will likely be different when they do too.