The thread in the Rules section has me puzzled. In my area Dudley Thunder Heat is the most popular ball so that is what I'm most familiar with. Personally I prefer this ball in new condition and consider it to have a light tackiness to the surface. This feel generally lasts most of the game but after being used in practice once or twice it's gone. I have used other balls, Baden, Worth and Rawlings come to mind, they don't seem as tacky but I never thought of them as slick. Is there a substantial difference in the surface feel of the different brands of balls?
Are New Balls Slick?
- Thread starter ArmWhip
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I have been ordering different balls. I noticed my daughter put all of the Rawlings balls I got on Black Friday into the hitting bucket when I just got her some Dudleys to try. They have to be a bad batch though as the outside is peeling off in a way I have not seen before. So just based on 14yo fickleness those were clearly given a thumbs down.
SB-12s have a slight tackiness to them upon removing them from the wrapper, too.
- May 29, 2015
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This goes back to my comment in that thread about how that rule was not written with modern balls in mind.
Here is an oddity that I have noticed at one particular park with all turf fields and nets over the fan seating areas: because there is nothing "rough" for the balls to come in contact with, they get really slick. I don't mean like "just to a pitcher" slick, I mean they are literally rubbed smooth over the course of a game. Any tackiness wears off and then they just get ground down. I have only encountered that in this one park.
Here is an oddity that I have noticed at one particular park with all turf fields and nets over the fan seating areas: because there is nothing "rough" for the balls to come in contact with, they get really slick. I don't mean like "just to a pitcher" slick, I mean they are literally rubbed smooth over the course of a game. Any tackiness wears off and then they just get ground down. I have only encountered that in this one park.
That's interesting, years ago I coached on a team that practiced at an indoor facility with turf, they had a supply of balls that you could use. These balls were so slick they actually shined in light.
- May 20, 2015
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they tend to get wrinkled as they get older
As far as I'm concerned, there is no other ball than the Dudley. Grippy and never go slick, perfect seams, durable, seemingly waterproof, and hardly lose any pop over time. We have Thunder Heats in the practice bucket that have been getting beat on for at least three years and are still better than the Champro, Dream Seams, Franklins, and Worth in there with them. We had a bunch of Rawlings NCAA which were complete garbage in every way. I've tossed a bunch of them into the woods out of pure frustration. They aren't even fit for BP. I've found Dudleys out behind the batting cage that have been there for weeks or months through wet weather and they're just as good as when they were lost.
I posted in that thread after my daughter was scolded for roughing up a slippery ball last weekend, but I don't know what ball it was they were using. The official ball for our state is the Dudley SB12 as I understand it, but we were in the next state over. I love them for pitching work, though.
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They are absolute turds. The surface breaks really easily if they hit a wall or something They get super slick and I swear the shrink a little. And they go dead really fast. They're like one step above one of the Dick's branded practice balls.
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