To be a good hitter you've got to do one thing - get a good ball to hit. Enjoy some interesting facts on ball of different sports.
Soccer ball - 68 cm (26") 70 cm (27") in circumference and weighs 396 to 460 gm.
- Soccer ball (football) was originally made from inflated pig bladder and covered by leather.
- It was replaced by balls made by vulcanized rubber which were good in bouncing and kicking.
- A soccer ball is made up of 32 leather panels, held together by 642 stitches.
Basket Ball - 29.5 to 29.875 inches (75 to 75.88cm) in circumference. - The basketball is commonly orange surface with black ribs, the inner bladder is made of rubber inflated with air and it is wrapped with several layers of of nylon and polyester.
- Outer layer is made of leather or good quality rubber.
- The basketball is generally more hard and heavy than all other balls of team sport(624 gm approx.).
- Basket ball has to pass 20,000 bounce, 100 needle piercing and 7 day temperature test before getting recognized for a match.
Volley Ball- Circumference is around 25-26 inch. - Outer cover of volleyball is made of broad stripes sewed together and adorned with distinguishable colors.
- Pressure in volleyball is much less and weight is also significantly less than basketball (260 gm).
- The vollyball used on beach is slightly different from indoor used balls in size and color.
Rugby Ball - weight: 410 to 460 gm, size: 27 cm long and circumference in the middle: 60 cm. - Rugby ball is not spherical its rather prolate spheroid or oval shape, made from four leather panels and sometimes from synthetic material of same or different colors.
- Rugby is decorated with colorful designs and logos.
American Football - Spheroid in shape, 11" long and 22" circumference in center, weighs about 395 to 425 gm. - Earlier American Football inner bladder were made from pig bladder but replaced later by high quality rubber or plastic bladder and the outer cover is almost leather.
- The American Football is similar to rugby ball in size and shape but with some differences, two ends of the ball are not so smooth and curve, they are little bit pointed.
- Other popular difference is it has lacing on the partitions of leather strips from which it is made.The lacing is used for grip while throwing the ball with hands.
Golf Ball - Diameter 42.672 mm(1.68 inch), Circumference 134.112 mm (5.28 inch) and weigh about 45 gm. - Dimples on the surface of Golf Ball are characteristic of this ball, they are not merely a design, they are specially done to decrease the drag of the ball in the air and to increase the flying distance of the ball when hit by the player.
- There around 252 to 482 dimples on a ball.
- Earlier Golf balls were made from wood but then they were replaced by exciting new featured balls called featherie ball they were stuffed with chicken or goose feathers in a leather pouch.
- Now a days the Golf Ball inner solid core is made by colorful interior by soft and light synthetic materials and covered by special resin called 'Surlyn' which is tough and durable.
Cricket ball - Weigh 163 gm and circumference 9 inch. - Cricket ball is a hard cork covered with smooth leather.
- Most noticeable thing is seaming of two semi-spheres of leather which goes around the circumference.
- Seaming line is very strategic for bowlers, they use it for grip and spin.
- The color of cricket ball is generally red but in the flood lights this ball seems brown and batsman can't clearly distinguish it from the pitch, so instead of red white balls are used in flood lights.
Tennis Ball - Weigh 58 gm & circumference of 7.85 inch. - Tennis Balls are generally florescent color for better visibility in high speed and are covered with felt material, this fur texture gives the aerodynamic property for speeding ball.
- Earlier tennis balls were made from wool and leather, other light weight fillings were also used covered by string and cloth.
- Now the balls are made from rubber with hollow interior.
Hockey ball - Weight 156 to163 grams & circumference 224 mm to 235 mm (8.8 to 9.2 inch). - Hockey ball is hard plastic ball, the core of the ball is made from cork and outer is plastic.
- Color of the Hockey Ball is mostly white but may exist in different colors so it can be used on contrasting fields.
- The balls come in two surface texture; one is plane and smooth which can be used indoor on dry surface, and second is dimpled or dented surface which is used on wet surface to reduce aquaplaning.
Bowing Ball - circumference 26.7 inches (67.8 cm) to 27 inches (68.5 cm), weight should not be exceed from 7.26 kg. - Uniqueness of this ball is three holes,used for holding and griping of the ball while throwing it towards 10-pin.
- The three holes are for ring finger, middle finger and thumb, there might more holes for ventilation and other griping issues.
- The holes doesn't have any standard size or position, professional balls are made without any holes, buyer or user is free to drill any where he likes.
- The balls were first made from wood and hard rubber then the plastic was introduced for making it, later plastic was improved to polyurethane.
- The ball is quite heavier than all balls. Surface of the ball is smooth shiny and bright colored and sometime adored with patterns.
Billards Balls - weight: 'numbered ball' 160 gm, 'cue ball' 170 gm. Circumference:358 to 398 mm (14.1 to 15.7 inch). - Billards balls are used in Cue sports, these games are played by multiple balls at a time on a special table top.
- These balls are made from different plastics, resins and polyester; strong and resistant to cracking and chipping.
- There are 3 major divisions of Cue sports each one having balls of different size and vivid printed 'patterns and numbers' on them.
- a) solid ball (fully colored with a number printed on it)
- b) stripe ball (white ball with a colored stripe on it with a number)
- c) cue ball (white ball heavier than other used as a striker)
Table Tennis Ball - Circumference 7.85 to 8.25 inch. - The lightest ball in all the multiple-player games, just 2.7 gm and very similar to turtle egg visually.
- Celluloid or plastic from which ball is made allows ball to bounce more. Number of stars on it indicate its quality the best have 3.
Base Ball - 9 to 9 1⁄4 inches (229–235 mm) in circumference (2 7⁄8–3 in or 73–76mm in diameter). - The yarn or string used to wrap the baseball can be up to one mile (1.6 km) in length. Some are wrapped in a plastic like covering.
- The ball features a rubber or cork center, wrapped in yarn and covered in leather.
- A baseball ball has exactly 108 stitches, a cricket ball has between 65 and 70 stitches.
