Giving the ball back?

[CoogansBluff]

IWhy not let them keep it, and then have a chance for an autograph or 2 after the game?

That would be cool, but again, I think in the opinion of tOSU and other schools, they can take care of fans in other ways. As I noted, IMHO, the thrill of getting a ball is not as universally exciting as you believe. But that's a matter of opinion, and I might be wrong.

A couple of weekends ago, DD and I went to an N.C. State game. Admission was free, and they were giving away free posters w/ the team's schedule and a free draw-string backpack. After the game, the entire team sat at tables and signed autographs.

Yeah, it would be great if balls that went out of play could've been used for autographs, but it's hard to complain when you've already received free admission, free poster and free backpack.

 

[Lenski]

...to you and I, but to a little girl who plays it's much more than that. It's a stupid policy at a school like OSU or any other university with more money than it knows what to do with.

How much was admission? Just curious. If it was free, is that also a stupid policy? You are there to be entertained and the cost was minimal if anything at all, not to get a free ball. Heck, at the games I've been at the kids love to chase the ball so they can be the one that gets to give it back! Let it go and enjoy the entertainment.

 

[3bmama]

At the Husker game they asked that you take it back to the marketing table in exchange for candy. So the kids would chase those babies down I'm not sure if you had to give them back.

 

[BuckeyeGuy]

How much was admission? Just curious. If it was free, is that also a stupid policy? You are there to be entertained and the cost was minimal if anything at all, not to get a free ball. Heck, at the games I've been at the kids love to chase the ball so they can be the one that gets to give it back! Let it go and enjoy the entertainment.

Free, if you don't count my tuition costs from my time there lol! Nice non sequitur.

I never said the purpose of attending was to get a free ball. I just think it's a dumb policy. IMO, it's far more entertaining to keep the ball than to turn it over to the ball retriever. I'm no FP snob. I grew up walking to Angel Stadium and watching the Halos of the 70's and 80's break my heart year after year. To me keeping a foul ball is tradition, and a good one. Yeah, FP isn't baseball, blah blah blah.

Still want to know why it's done. Who knows, maybe there's a great reason for it. I just can't think of one.

 

[BobInMadison]

The local minor league baseball team gets their balls back, but they give a hot dog in return. The team is an instructional league team, and has very high attendance, so I can't imagine they would lose much money. However, there are a LOT of balls every game fouled behind home plate. I do remember one game where some of the fans were upset that the ball boys wouldn't toss any foul balls to the fans.

DD #1's BFF has a relative who works at Miller Park, where the Brewers play. One time they went to a game, had mediocre seats, but with their connections eventually wound up sitting right behind the Brewers' dugout. DD #1 and her BFF were on the Jumbotron that day, and both came home with souvenir balls. I think the ball boys tossed some foul balls their way.

 

[Jquick823]

It's not just a game ball though. A softball can last years for use at practice. I saw the price of a softball estimated at $2 for a bulk purchase. Considering those softballs are between $5-$8 normally I would guess they still cost around $4. But $2K a year on wasted balls is a lot of cash.

I'm wondering if it's a competitive/recruiting advantage? My local D1 can't compete financially with any D1 anywhere so maybe if they gave the balls away that were foul that would help them in recruiting? Probably a stretch but the NCAA has some rules that are crazy.

 

[BuckeyeGuy]

DD #1's BFF has a relative who works at Miller Park, where the Brewers play. One time they went to a game, had mediocre seats, but with their connections eventually wound up sitting right behind the Brewers' dugout. DD #1 and her BFF were on the Jumbotron that day, and both came home with souvenir balls. I think the ball boys tossed some foul balls their way.

We went to see the Angles play in Detroit, sat just behind the Halo dugout, and Trumbo tossed the ball to the stands every inning.

Dunno, being a baseball fan forever, I might have a skewed prespective here. If so, I like the view. So be it.

 

[Lenski]

Your perspective is just fine........for MLB.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

50 years ago ;0, we would chase them down and get a snow cone from ASA.

 

[Softball_2]

It is about the money.

Ohio State Softball does not have nearly the funds you expect it to have just because it is a Big10 program or because it is in the same athletic department as the football team. A dozen balls cost Ohio State about $84 or $7.00/ball. Every NCAA Division I team in the country is required to use the same ball, so teams will not be afforded a discount because they wear a certain jersey. With the amount of foul balls that go out during a single game, if none were returned they are probably using 20 balls/game. They always have five readily available for the umpire, so this is assuming 15 foul balls have been hit and not returned. So each game costs about $140 for balls which comes out to about $3000/year on game balls. Because those balls are not being returned, they can never be cycled into practice, so they now have to buy new practice balls every year (as balls will break down about every six months with the amount of repetition a team like Ohio State will have). Assuming Ohio State uses ten buckets of balls for practices, that's 240 balls. Every six months. So that's about another $3500 of balls. Now we are up near $6-7000.

Ohio State softball doesn't have the huge budget you might expect them to have. You mentioned their uniform combinations, but those come for free or at a deep discount because of an athletic department wide sponsorship - the same can not be said about the balls.