The holidays have a way of turning TV’s into modern fireside hearths. Folks settle in, families linger and embrace sports’ entertainment. Football’s regular season gets exciting. Key games decide playoff rosters. Basketball approaches mid-season with leaders emerging from the pack. It’s interesting how fundamental and different balls are in America’s major league sports. Let’s dive deeper with fun facts.
FUN FACTS: Football teams use about 30 balls per game. Wilson handsews about 500,000 official balls per year, all in Ada, Ohio. Arnold Horween Sr., pro player and Harvard coach circa the 1920s, invented the distinctive Horween leather and embossing pattern on footballs. Each team brings 12 scrimmage balls and 3 kicking balls to an NFL game. Scrimmage balls’ better grip and brown color develop with mud conditioning. Kicking balls are a lighter reddish color and firmer.
Since 1941, NFL balls have been labeled “The Duke” in honor of Wellington Mara (whose namesake was the Duke of Wellington). The Duke was Wellington’s nickname as a ball boy. His father, Tim Marra, the onetime NY Giants owner and founder of Wilson Sporting Goods Company, ensured his son’s legacy. Since 2017, NFL balls have embedded chips tracking spin, speed and distance. Placement on the field is by officials due to the sensors’ insufficient accuracy—no laughing, please.
Basketball teams use approximately 3-6 balls per game. Home teams select a game ball; balls going into the stands are returned. Since 2022, all NBA basketballs have been manufactured by Wilson, which took over from Spaulding. Basketball leather, like football leather, also comes from the Horween Company in Chicago. Rubber interiors are sourced from Malaysia and Vietnam; nylon windings come from Japan; assembly, cutting leathers, gluing and heating are done in China; and testing takes place in Alexander City, Alabama. Each ball gets four weeks of testing for uniformity and bounce during which the leather surface is roughed up for ease of grip.
Baseball teams go through approximately 100 baseballs per game. All major league baseballs are made in Turrilba, Costa Rica, at the Rawlings factory owned by MLB since 2018. The factory makes approximately 2.5 million official baseballs per year, with strict standards for cork and rubber centers, wool yarn windings, cowhide covers and waxed-red stitching still handsewn. Of course, baseballs hit out of the park or into the stands are not returned for play, leaving many young fans with dreams or souvenirs.
