History of baseball balls

Question
QUESTION: When in history did the umpires start replacing every ball touched by anything other than the pitcher, the catcher or the umpire, ie: the ground, tipping the bat, etc?

ANSWER: Connie,

Baseball first started making an effort to keep cleaner balls in play in 1921.  Late in the 1920 season, Ray Chapman was hit in the head by a pitched ball and died.  The custom of the time was to play nearly the entire game with just a couple baseballs.  And the players purposely scuffed and dirtied up a new ball as soon as it was put into the game.

So before the 1921 season, spitballs were banned (one of the big reasons for dirtying up the ball) and umpires were instructed to throw out balls when they got dirty.  As with all things baseball, tradition makes change happen very slowly.  So umpires did throw out more balls, but not immediately after anytime a ball hit the dirt.  But gradually, over the years, they threw out more and more baseballs.

But what really led to today's custom was the amount of money in the game and televised games.  Even in the 1970s, balls stayed in the game for multiple batters.  But a clean ball shows up much better on TV.  And money for equipment is very small potatoes compared to players' salaries and the amount of money made by TV and attendance.  So it has become the custom to throw out a ball the second it touches dirt.

It is probably the fairest way to play the game - every player gets a new ball and a pitcher doesn't have a chance to use a scuffed up ball to throw crazy pitches.

Hope this helps!

Brian

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: A follow up question... I have heard that new baseballs get put through some type of mud or dirt.
Is this the baseball company's regime, or something that the league does, or is this just a myth.

Answer
Connie,

Each new major league baseball is rubbed up before the game with a mud harvested from a special spot near the Delaware River.  The location is a secret.  This sounds crazy but is completely true.  Rubbing up the baseballs is the job of the umpiring crew.

In the minor leagues, baseballs are also rubbed up before the game, but they use whatever dirt is available outside.

Brian