Philadelphia Eagles "Game Ball" footballs

[cohibasmoker]

A Month or so ago, I remember another member asking about team issued “game balls” or “presentation” footballs. Recently on eBay, a seller had two Philadelphia Eagles “game ball’s issued to Coach Sid Gillman. Both footballs had a LOA from the Gillman family. Both were obviously professionally done by the Philadelphia Eagles.

Traditionally, when we see the “game ball” designation, we think of the head coach in the locker room after the game addressing the players with a football in his hand. He makes a speech and then presents a “game ball” to a particular player (s). We’ve all seen the NFL films.

The thing that struck me about the auctions was, although both were obviously done by the team, one of the “game balls” was actually a 3-panel NFL autograph football and not an actual “game ball” that was used in the game.

The question is, are both “game balls” actually game balls if one of the footballs wasn’t actually used in the game?

Unless the footballs were an obvious fake, which in this case the footballs were not, when you get down to it, each collector has to make their own decision. Maybe the “game used” vs. “team issued” should be applied to “game balls” as well as other pieces of sports memorabilia.

Jim