Interesting story and graphic attached to it that shows two things that came into play during the PED Steroids debate:
- The composition of the ball matters ie: The Juiced Ball Theory has some merit despite other folks efforts to shout it down.
- Tinkering with the composition of the ball is far from a recent phenomena. Teams would store baseballs in refrigerators overnight to change the dynamics of the ball - bat collision and therefore the distance / speed the ball travels off the bat. Baseball has actually codified the practice with humidors in Colorado.
from This Great Game - The On-Line Book of Baseball:
Baseball History in 1943: War and Games:
Then there was the disaster known as the balata ball.
With rubber scarce, the majors introduced a new ball made up of “non-essential” elements—a combination of low-grade cork, low-grade horsehide and, in the place of rubber, a substance called balata—produced from the milk of tropical trees. A.G. Spalding, the official ball manufacturer, proclaimed that this new ball would be as juicy as those used before the war.
If correct, Spalding would have had a hard time explaining it after the season’s first week—which produced 11 shutouts and a collective .223 batting average. The ball was hard, but there was no give; hitters complained of their hands painfully ringing as the balata ball jarred off their bats. After seeing just six runs tallied in a four-game series between his Reds and the Cardinals, Cincinnati general manager Warren Giles had a stress test done on the ball, dropping it from a high distance and comparing its bounce to that of a pre-war ball. They found the evidence they sought; the balata ball was consistently 25% less bouncy. After some defending of its investment, Spalding decided to repeat Giles’ tests and achieved the same lifeless results. Foot in mouth, Spalding reinvented the ball using a more lively form of rubber cement and put it into use, bringing offensive numbers back to more sensible levels.'via Blog this'
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