What Were Baseballs Made Of?
The other day I received this interesting query from children’s-book author Cathy Sweeney:
“I am at work on a young children’s book about Abe Lincoln playing base ball in the 1840s in New Salem, Illinois. I figure I can make a bat out of a tree limb cut down or the handle of a broom, but I am stumped as to what they used for the ball. Rubber was not invented yet, so I know there was no rubber core in the center of the ball. A pebble…. A stone?… A marble?… all of them then wrapped in layers of cloth/ material and held together by rope/twine/string. The other day I read where someone had used a fish eye. Does this sound familiar to you?”
Well, yes, it does. I replied:
Rubber was indeed an option for the ball’s center in the 1840s, as rubber strips could be had from old “galluses” (suspenders) or other sources. (Galvanized rubber had not yet been invented but natural rubber was common in the West in the 18th century.)
A bit of lead in the center was common too — maybe a bullet. A fish eye would have been of no use but the skeletal remains of a sturgeon’s head would be springy. If a dead ball were desired, the ball could be all yarn, wound with twine and skin. See this note from the New York Clipper on October 23, 1880, describing New York City in the 1830s:
“In olden times Chatham square used to be an open meadow or common, and was the play-ground of the boys of this city. Baseball was the favorite game played on the square, but it was then a simple pastime, with flat sticks or axe-handles for bats, and yarn balls. Occasionally a boy, more lucky than the rest, would bring on the ground a ball made of a sturgeon’s nose, procured from the racket court in Allen street, where it had been driven over the wall by a rash blow.”
Here is Doc Adams’ 1896 recollection of how baseballs were made in the 1840s:
“We had a great deal of trouble in getting balls made, and for six or seven years I made all the balls myself, not only for our club but also for other clubs when they were organized. I went all over New York to find someone who would undertake this work, but no one could be induced to try it for love or money. Finally I found a Scotch saddler who was able to show me a good way to cover the balls with horsehide, such as was used for whip lashes. I used to make the stuffing out of three or four ounces of rubber cuttings, wound with yarn and then covered with the leather. Those balls were, of course, a great deal softer than the balls now in use. It was not until some time after 1850 that a shoemaker was found who was willing to make them for us. This was the beginning of base ball manufacturing. There is now, I believe, a factory in Philadelphia where 1,000 people are employed in this one industry.”
Hope this is helpful.
