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<\/a><\/p>\nFIGURE 2: An official MLB ball, also game used at Wrigley in 2022. Circumference 9.00 inches, the minimum limit under the rules.<\/p>\n
FIGURE 3: The two baseballs side-by-side, with guides for comparison. This is the difference in tolerance allowed under MLB rules. I\u2008have no doubt that a professional player can tell the difference, and how often do you see a pitcher ask an umpire for a different baseball, after having already received a fresh one?<\/p>\n Unlike MLB, which has had a designated supplier of official balls from the beginning (the current supplier, Rawlings, has held the MLB\u2008contract since 1977), NPB did not use an official supplier until 2009. Before then, each team used baseballs made by multiple manufacturers, approved after inspection by the NPB office. These baseballs bore no imprint except the NPB handstamp of approval, the suppliers were essentially anonymous. As happened in the U.S. over a century before, questionable aspects of this practice forced NPB to adopt a more formal chain of supply. Mizuno has made official NPB baseballs from 2009.<\/p>\n FIGURE 4a\/b: A\u2008pre-Mizuno approved NPB baseball, purchased in 1995 from the Yakult Swallows team shop. Circumference 9\u215b inches.<\/p>\n FIGURE 5a\/b: Current Mizuno NPB official baseball, purchased from Mizuno in 2024. Circumference 9\u215b inches.<\/p>\n FIGURE 6: MLB\u2008and NPB official baseballs in a row, with guides for comparison. (Larger version of image here<\/a>)<\/p>\n The NPB specimens, though made by different suppliers separated by nearly three decades, have remained remarkably similar. Some recent articles have stated circumferences for NPB baseballs as small as 8\u215e inches. If it can be taken that the NPB balls illustrated here represent the upper limits within their rules, they fall well within MLB\u2008tolerances. Even the minimum NPB\u2008standards would differ very little from MLB. It should be noted that baseballs used in the World Baseball Classic tournaments have all been manufactured by Rawlings, and have used MLB standards for size and weight. Japanese players have thus certainly been familiar with the use of the MLB\u2008baseball in elite contests.<\/p>\n One readily visible difference is in the seams, I\u2019d go so far as to say that difference is more significant than the size difference. The NPB seams are definitely smaller, and thus make a wider distance at points where they are closest together (the so-called \u201csweet spots\u201d). Both baseballs use 108 pairs of stitches. 108 pairs has been standard in MLB\u2008since 1919, previously the number was 116, and the earliest baseballs even more.<\/p>\n The conventional wisdom is that the smaller seams make for a better grip overall. A personal tactile inspection also confirms that the surface of the NPB\u2008baseballs is \u201ctackier\u201d than MLB, whose fresh-from-the-factory product has always been noted for slickness. Both leagues use pregame treatments intended to increase finger grip.<\/p>\n This ends the NPB\/MLB\u2008visual comparisons. Have at it.<\/p>\n And now for something (sort of) completely different. As regular readers know, Al LOVES\u2008sleuthing. So here\u2019s a sleuth using some older spheres.<\/p>\n 1930 was a year of historic offense in MLB. The entire NL\u2008hit .303, Bill Terry became the last NL batter to hit .400, Hack Wilson set an NL\u2008record for home runs that stood until steroids, as well as an RBI\u2008record for MLB that may never be broken and only the Washington Senators posted a team ERA under 4.00. The Philadelphia Phillies posted a team batting average of .315 and a team ERA of 6.71. So what happened? As has been the case since time immemorial, the baseballs did it, or so they say.<\/p>\n Conspiracy theorists, (i.e. pitchers in 1930), maintained that it was not that the baseball was juiced, but that the seams were sunken, making it almost impossible to effectively throw the (relatively few) breaking pitches of the time. Let\u2019s have a look.<\/p>\n In order to do this, we must reliably date game balls to a specific year. Since imprints often do not vary for long stretches of time, how can this be done? By dating team-signed official balls. A baseball signed by a full team, or close, can be dated to a specific year through comparisons of the rosters.<\/p>\n The baseballs used for this illustration are team-signed baseballs dated to the years in question. They are photographed to display the official imprints, the signatures are, for the most part, not visible. It should be noted that AL\u2008and NL\u2008baseballs were made by the same company (Spalding), even though the Reach brand was used for the AL\u2008baseballs. Spalding had acquired Reach in 1889, but continued to use the Reach trademark for several decades.<\/p>\n FIGURE 7: L-R, 1929 AL, 1930 AL, 1931 NL. What jumps out immediately is that there was a reaction in 1931. The threads in the seams are heavier, the seams themselves larger. In fact, the size of the seams and heaviness of the threading is the same as current baseballs. Beginning in 1931, MLB baseballs have a modern appearance, except for the color of the threads.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n