Charles Feeney 1974 Spalding NL Ball Hank Aaron HR Chase

[bggolfpro]

First off I just want to say how thrilled I am to be a member of the boards! I have a question I was hoping someone here could shed some light on. I have a friend who was an Umpire for 26 years in the big leagues. He gave me a bunch of memorabilia, including the ball below....can anyone shed some light on it? From the research I have done this ball is very rare and was used during the series Hank Aaron tied Babe Ruth....any other thoughts?

[xpress34]

Welcome to the boards!

Yes, Aaron did tie Ruth's HR record on his 1st at bat of the 1974 season at Cincinnati, breaking the record when Atlanta returned home for their 1st home stand of the season.

That said, the ball does not appear to be Game Used, but as far as the stamping, their are a two versions of that ball in circulation. The other dated 4.3.74 or 4.4.74 for the Texas Rangers home opener I can think of off the top of my head.

1974 was the 1st use of Cowhide for MLB balls. Up to 1973 they were made of Horsehide.

As far as I know, they only marked the balls for the Opening day games the 1st game in the Al and the 1st game in the NL that year.

If you ever decide to sell the ball, I would be interested in adding it to my collection.

All the best -

Smitty

[joelsabi]

Welcome to the boards!

Yes, Aaron did tie Ruth's HR record on his 1st at bat of the 1974 season at Cincinnati, breaking the record when Atlanta returned home for their 1st home stand of the season.

That said, the ball does not appear to be Game Used, but as far as the stamping, their are a two versions of that ball in circulation. The other dated 4.3.74 or 4.4.74 for the Texas Rangers home opener I can think of off the top of my head.

1974 was the 1st use of Cowhide for MLB balls. Up to 1973 they were made of Horsehide.

As far as I know, they only marked the balls for the Opening day games the 1st game in the Al and the 1st game in the NL that year.

If you ever decide to sell the ball, I would be interested in adding it to my collection.

All the best -

Smitty

Chris,

You probably know the answer so I thought I would ask.

1) Were these chase baseball marking for opening day games or special chase base trying to trace Aaron's HR.
2) Were there any special marking on the baseball that Aaron hit to break Ruth's record.

From you post it seems like the markings were for opening day games and concidentally occurred the day Aaron tied the record.

Thanks in advance

Joel

[xpress34]

Chris,

You probably know the answer so I thought I would ask.

1) Were these chase baseball marking for opening day games or special chase base trying to trace Aaron's HR.
2) Were there any special marking on the baseball that Aaron hit to break Ruth's record.

From you post it seems like the markings were for opening day games and concidentally occurred the day Aaron tied the record.

Thanks in advance

Joel

Joel -

From what I understand, Aaron's HR chase had nothing to do with the markings on the ball as they did the same markings for the Rangers game - it was simply marking that they had changed from horsehide to cowhide on the balls.

As far as them 'marking' chase balls for Aaron's HR chase, I don't believe MLB even got into that practice until 1998 when they started marking balls at the end of the season for McGwire and Sosa's HR chases.

Since then it has become regular practice for MLB specially mark balls for potential special occasions.

Hope this helps!

- Smitty

[bggolfpro]

Thanks very much for the info and the welcome! I appreciate it.....I couldn't find anything anywhere on them except for the auction sales which made it seem as if the Reds stamped them for this particular occasion.

[joelsabi]

Joel -

From what I understand, Aaron's HR chase had nothing to do with the markings on the ball as they did the same markings for the Rangers game - it was simply marking that they had changed from horsehide to cowhide on the balls.

As far as them 'marking' chase balls for Aaron's HR chase, I don't believe MLB even got into that practice until 1998 when they started marking balls at the end of the season for McGwire and Sosa's HR chases.

Since then it has become regular practice for MLB specially mark balls for potential special occasions.

Hope this helps!

- Smitty

thanks Chris for thoughtful answer

Thanks very much for the info and the welcome! I appreciate it.....I couldn't find anything anywhere on them except for the auction sales which made it seem as if the Reds stamped them for this particular occasion.

can you post link to the auction item?

[DJaeger22]

Welcome to the forums! That is a great looking ball, I had never seen one of those before this post.

If you don't mind me asking, what course are you the Pro at?

-Danny

[esquiresports]

Great item. And interesting insights. Here a link to the auction noted in the OP (presumably - this is all I could find).

http://legendaryauctions.com/LotDeta...entoryid=92588

[joelsabi]

Is the baseball at the HOF missing the stamp? I would think I would be able to see the very bottom of the stamp but maybe its the angle of the photo. Anyone seen this baseball firsthand at the HOF and notice the stamp?

Was it machine or hand stamped? The two stamped balls look like the same exact location.

[xpress34]

Great item. And interesting insights. Here a link to the auction noted in the OP (presumably - this is all I could find).

http://legendaryauctions.com/LotDeta...entoryid=92588

I have a VERY hard time accepting Legendary's claim that the ball they auctioned was GAME USED. It's not even mudded - look at the stitch holes, they are all clean and white inside.

Look at the ball in the HOF display. THAT is what a GU ball from that period should look like - mudded up and obvious bat or grand stand mark on the President's panel.

BTW - for those of you who don't know, I did work for Rawlings for about 4 years at Coors Field. You can not 'mud a ball' for game use without it being very apparent.

The ball in the auction is very nice being that Aaron signed it, but Game Used - not a chance. And the fact they listed it as Game Used is what drove up the hammer price.

The last time I saw one of the Rangers balls it sold for around $125 or so and I believe the Cicinatti ones get a little more (premium due to the games events) at around $150-$175.

Just my .02

- Smitty