The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1886-10-09
1000 HORSES HIDES A YEAR.
What IL Takes to Satisfy the Base
U Ball Ffend.

III B0lI t1enQs
The interesting fact was learned yes
terday, says The New York Mail and
Express, that the hides of about one
thousand horses ana the skins of at
least ten times as many sheep are cut
up into coverings for base-balls in this
city every season. BY one manufac-
turer alone three tons of yarn are used
year for the insides of base-balls.
The hide and skin used is perfectly
white, being alum tanned, and comes
from Philadelphia. Out of one horses
hide the coverings for twelve dozen
balls are cut, and out of one sheepskin
three dozen. Two strips of the leather
are required for each ball, cut wide and
rounding at each end so that they fit
into each other when put around the
yarn ball. Each piece, for league
ball, is seven inches long by two inches
wide at the rounded ends. The pieces
are cut with die. Old-fashioned blue
Shaker yarn is used for the inside of
the league ball, which is wound tightly
around small rubber ball weighing
one ounce. The improved league ball
has now double coverings of horsehide,
which is regarded as great improve
ment. 1t is also stitched with gut.
The balls are made entirely by hand
and it requires no little skill to shape
them perfectly round. This is done by
placing them in an iron cup about the
size of the ball and striking it with
mallet at different stages of the wind
ing. Men do this work. They easily
make ten dozen league balls in day
and from forty to fifty dozen ordinary
base balls in the same length of tine
Their wages are $3.50 day. Women
sew the coverings together on the ball.
This requires considerable skill and
strong finger muscles They can sew
from two-and-half to three dozen
league balls in day, and from four
teen to sixteen dozen of the cheaper
grades. They are paid by the piece, 80
cents dozen for the league work and
10 cents a dozen for the others. They
earn about $12 week. The balls are
sewed with what is known rs Bakers
flax. which comes in red, blue, orange,
and pink colors. The finest balls are
sewed with pink. Horsehide covered
balls are made in fourteen different va
rieties.
Mr.. S. w. Brock, u veteran authOri-
ty on the subject, from whom the above
facts were obtained, said: People
have the idea that the baseball bust
ness doesn't amount to anything. Why,
remember that those who started to
go into it few years ago were hooted
ut as throwing their time and money
away. They were told that there were
not enough base-balls used in the coun-
try to make it pay. But you may be
surprised to know it, yet it is a fact,
that one house alone in this city does
business of $4,000 year at it,
making nothing else. There is large
demand for them. especially from the
west and south, and they are sent from
here to Canada, Omaha, New Orleans,
and Cuba in large quantities. 1t is an
interesting fact that in Cuba the base
ball fever is on the rapid increase,
though as yet they buy only the cheap
err grades. In the height of the season
the largest house here employees seven
ty-five persons and turns out three hun
dred dozen balls a day. This year the
manufacturers have more orders than
they can fill, and the demand is far
ahead of any previous year. An inter-
esting fact about base-balls is that in
the past fifteen years the only impor-
tant change in the professional dead
ball is that of a double cover. Of
course fifteen years ago they did not
have everything quite SO fine about a
ball. for there were no professional
clubs then. and players were not SO par
ticular. No patent was ever obtained
on the shape OF the covering to base
ball, though there have been number
of claimants to its invention"