Major League Baseballs are made by the Rawlings Company, which you can see by simply looking at the logo above the sweet spot on a ball. It doesn't need to be an official Major League ball, either. At any given sporting goods store, nearly all the baseballs you see will be made by Rawlings. They're not limited to just the balls either; their specialty is any baseball equipment, and remain the most recognizable brand name in the game at any level.
In 1955, Rawlings was purchased by the Spalding Company, who, at the time, was the exculsive supplier of balls to the Major Leagues. For the 1976 season, Spalding passed those duties to Rawlings permanently.
From 1976 until the end of the 2000 season, Rawlings made separate balls for the National League and American League, complete with the signature of each League's President.
The balls we see today have been used since the 2001 season.
****
Obviously, there is a lot of intangible value when you talk about being the one and only supplier for the league where the best players in the world play. As you'll see in the rest of this entry, Rawlings is taking every precaution to minimize competition. They are extremely secretive and strive for perfection in order to provide the best product possible.
So where exactly is their factory?
New York city? Nah, more secluded than that.
How about somewhere in the desert; Nevada possibly? Not quite.
This is a stretch, but maybe it's out of the country. Mexico? Actually, you're almost right.
Costa Rica.
There's no reason as to why, really. The main factory used to be in Haiti, but civil unrest caused the company to move. There are other factories that produce many kinds of baseball apparel, but the only thing made in Costa Rica is Official Major League Baseballs.
In order to get to the factory, you need to journey two and a half hours from the capital city of San Jose. You start out driving on a highway, but soon end up on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere.
Don't try to plug this place into your GPS either; it doesn't have an address. It's location is simply known as "behind Rafael Camacho Stadium". The one story building has a little over 76,000 square feet, and a typical day's output is about 8,000 balls.
In the incredibly unlikely chance you find it, you'll have to settle for a view like this from behind a barbed wire fence:
It's heavily guarded 24/7, and even Rawlings representatives from the United States need to show their passports and get cleared by security to enter. It shouldn't come as a surprise that public tours are not offered.
Very few members of the media gain entrance, too. Thankfully, some do, which is how I heard about this.
That was the secretive aspect I mentioned, now let's see at how they aim for perfection.
Rawlings' goal is to create a level playing field; every ball needs to be as close to identical as physically possible. If some balls vary in makeup even a tiny amount, there's going to be problems when one team gets 'better' balls than their opponent. Each one must weigh between 5 and 5.25 ounces, and measure no more than 9 inches in circumference.
The conditions at the factory are a constant 70 degrees Fahrenheit with a 50% humidity level. If those levels change from day to day, the makeup of the different materials (lots of yarn, lots of string and some rubber) could fluctuate. In addition, Costa Rica's weather is very tropical and unpredictable. It's almost a no-brainier to have this rule in place.
The center of each ball has a rubber sphere, called the pill. After that, the next six layers are made string and yarn. Every layer has it's own measurement and weight restrictions in order to be used in a Major League game.
Each single part comes from a different corner of the world (like Indonesia, Portugal, and Rhode Island), and was selected as the single best material for the ball Rawlings wanted to create.
To get the six layers around the ball, the factory has a specific 'winding room'. In here, there are 48 separate machines that were built from within by Rawlings engineers, and are completely original. No other machines in the world are like these ones. Besides the workers in the winding room and engineers, not a single set of eyes has seen one. No media, no security, no employees. Never.
Once the 'inside' is done, the cowhide is wrapped around it. The raw hide is cleaned, treated with chemicals, and bleached by a special company in Tennessee. The hides are then vertically cut into something that resembles a figure eight (just imagine one side of a ball flattened out). Each piece must be between .046 and .056 inches thick- that's just 1/100th of an inch of wiggle room! If you think that's insane, get this: if there is something as small as a tick bite that made a mark on the living, breathing cow, that part is not good enough to be in a Major League game.
Now we're left with something that resembles a ball, with the exception of the signature red stitches; 108 to be exact.
The stitching room has 350 working stations (14 rows of 25). No machines here. Just normal humans. There is no dress code, and stitchers can even pop in some headphones to pass the time if they choose. Experienced stitchers can get a ball done in as little as 14 minutes. A very steady hand is required. It's very possible to get stabbed with the needle, but more importantly, accidentally stab the ball. It's also crucial that the ball doesn't get marked or smudged in any way when being handled.
Each stitch needs to come to a perfect 'V'. Each set of stitches needs to be even and not lopsided. The first and last stitch need to be completely hidden from sight, and can't be stitched too lose or too tight. This is the only step in the process that truly needs to be perfect. If it's not perfectly symmetrical, (everyone join in!) it can't be used in a Major League game.
 |
| A 'perfect' ball that was actually used in a game. |
Once a large amount of balls are completed by each stitcher, a supervisor comes to collect them and transports them to someone who inspects them for any of the problems above.
I've said it after every step so far- "Can't be used in a Major League game''. These imperfect balls are still made, and it's only in this inspection process where their fate is determined. Unless you've caught a game used ball, every ball you have is a reject. Many end up being sold as BP only balls (which are NOT game used, just to be clear), but some go to retail too. The autographed ball you place so much importance in? It's written on a ball that was deemed a failure.
****
Now we are FINALLY to my point of writing this entry.
Everything I've told you is true. If you're still skeptical about the facts, I have tangible evidence to show that this process isn't a joke, and really exists.
It's important to keep track of where the bad balls are coming from. Some can even be sent back to the stitcher for repairs. Needless to say, Rawlings doesn't have time for Post-It notes when they're turning out their 8,000 balls a day.
Here are some of the balls from my collection. Specifically, numbers 6, 10, 11, 13, 20, and 24.
After turning off the lights and flipping on my lamp that has a blacklight bulb in it, here's the same picture:
What is that you ask?
This is my favorite (and the coolest) fact I know about the entire game of baseball. This whole process becomes real when you're holding this secret code in your hands.
I've investigated on every ball I have. Those six are the clearest and most visible out of all the ones I have. What blew my mind even more was when I looked at some of my autographed balls. Since they made it through the factory, there was a chance for them to be marked too.
Here's a ball autographed by Koyie Hill (I'm embarrassed to admit I have this).
And with the blacklight....
It's a little more difficult to see than if it were in front of you, but he signed right over the invisible ink. How cool is that? He had no idea, and it just goes to show that the ink really is invisible and can be on every ball, no matter where it's used.
****
To sum it up, the balls that pass inspection get sent to a compressor to flatten the stitches. Before going to get stamped with a logo, they're cleaned with a special solvent to get rid of grease and wax that may have accumulated while changing hands. Unfortunately, this is where a lot of the invisible ink gets rubbed off. They're trying to remove it, that's just what happens.
After one final check to make sure everything is up to standards, the ball is boxed up and sent to a ballpark near you.
Individually, these materials have nothing in common. But when they all come together in a small Costa Rican town, it lets some trained hands produce the greatest thing in all of sports.
From Indonesia to Portugal to Rhode Island to Chicago, and then into your hands, this is what makes the game happen.
No comments:
Post a Comment