The Target

(or What's inside a Baseball)

The ball, an ever elusive target for hitters. The best hitter in the world had only hit the ball 4 out of every 10 times, a good hitter barely does it 3 for each 10 times at bat. The only difference in todays game is that balls are flying further then in the past. The baseball has changed little over the years on the outside, but on the inside they have been remade several times over the decades. They have been made so that they fly further. The outside dimensions and materials are the same as they were since 1872, 5 ounces and 9 inches in circumference, with a skin of leather and exactly 108 stiches. But the insides have changed dramatically. The basic outline of a ball is the same beneath the leather: rubber cement, four windings of yarn, the first three of wool one of cotton and the final rubber core. Balls used to be made of wool yarn underneath the cover, while newer balls are being made with more and more synthetic fibers. The old wool absorbed moisture very easily, this added wetness can deaden the ball by relaxing the tension and reducing the elasticity of the ball. New balls dont have this problem with the fibers that are being put into balls now.

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The core of baseballs are made of compressed rubber. These cores have also become more elastic over the years. Balls that were collected from the early 1970s were tested against newer balls from late 1990s. The older balls only bounced 65 inches, while the newer balls bounced 82 inches. Even with the wear of age this is a remarkeable change in the amount these ball have increased in their bouncyness.

Baseballs have become a little friendlier for batters over the years. But only as far as distance goes, it's still just as hard to get the bat on the ball as it was over thirty years ago.