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View Full Version : Did Midwest League Use ONL Baseballs?


BHawk
03-16-2013, 04:49 PM
I picked up a box of assorted old baseballs. One of the balls is marked Wisconsin Rapids Twins and Quad City Cubs, July 16 1983. I assume this is a game ball from that date, but it's a Feeney Official National League ball. Both teams were in the Midwest League that year. Did the league use ONL balls that year? Every other ball I've seen has a Midwest League stamp.
AstrosGU
03-16-2013, 07:56 PM
I am pretty sure that each league has to use their approved baseballs during game play, however, Big League clubs send their recycled Major League baseballs down to the Minors to be used in batting practice. This ball might have been used during BP on that date.
BHawk
03-17-2013, 08:48 AM
Thanks. I wasn't aware of that.
sox83cubs84
03-17-2013, 12:51 PM
I am pretty sure that each league has to use their approved baseballs during game play, however, Big League clubs send their recycled Major League baseballs down to the Minors to be used in batting practice. This ball might have been used during BP on that date.

Very true, although, in the 1990s, I had the opposite happen twice: Minor league baseballs in MLB batting practices. I caught a ball at Comiskey Park that was a Midwest League ball, as well as a AAA ball at a Royals BP in Milwaukee maybe a few months later.

Dave Miedema
ahuff
03-20-2013, 05:16 PM
Yeah, I talked to someone at my local MWL team about purchasing MWL baseballs from them after the season. If I remember correctly, I believe they told me they were unable to as any unused balls were to be sent to the Major League affiliate.
coxfan
03-21-2013, 07:30 AM
The Charlotte Knights, the White Sox AAA affiliate, uses some official MLB balls sent to them by the White Sox for batting practice only. They also use International League game balls from their own games for later BP. When their store sells game-used balls, sometimes the MLB balls from the White Sox are mixed in carelessly with the IL balls.

I verified this with the Knights' GM, who said the White Sox probably had also used them only for BP. Baseball factories test each MLB ball for its degree of rebound, and those that don't quite pass are marked practice-only and sold more cheaply to MLB clubs. ( According to a TV feature I saw a few years ago.)