Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-04-16
Push Ball Biggest
and Most Expensive
Used in Any Game
Cost is Said to Be Three Hundred
Dollars, and at that There is No
Profit in Making It.

NEW YORK. April 15.-The biggest and
most expensive ball used IN a game is the
push ball. which is six feet in diameter
and costs $500. though even at that price
there is said to be no great profit in II.
The outside covering is made OF cowhide
leather imported from England. This COW
ering is composed Of twenty strips, which
are sewed together by hand. Each of
these strips is between nine and ten feet
long, or half the circumference of the bali.
The strips are widest in the middle. taper
ing uniformly to points at either end. at
the poles Of the ball. where they are fur
Their secured by leather caps sewed on
To get the leather needed for a push ball
It is necessary to cut up five or six hides.
which makes the cost of the cover high
1t takes two men the better part of a
week to sew this material together.
The bladder for the ball is made of the
best rubber, which Is cut into strips and
cemented together in such shape that e
will form a globe, fitting the leather COW
erlng when inflated The leather covering
is practically indestructible. The very best
rubber bladder NAV give out in two or
three years. A new bladder costs $50 A
large cylinder foot pump suitable for in,
flating this ball costs $40
The game of push ball is of American
origin. The first push ball was made in
Newton, Mass. in 1894. This ball had a
covering of leather shaped on a wooden
form built for the purpose The first push
ball game in New York was played with
canvas ball stuffed with hay on Thanks
giving day, November o. 1902. AZ the last
moment the manager of the grounds where
the game was to be PLAYED found It i'm
possible to get a ball in time for the match,
but he was not dismayed by that Can
vas was bought and a bale of hay. and
there was pressed into service a neighbor,
ing shoemaker to do the sewing The re-
suit was a ball that may not have been
a perfect sphere but still II was a pretty
good looking ball, and II would DO.
But when II was finished-it had been
made out in the fIeld-it was too big to get
through any door. and so II was left out
over night the night before the match.
and that night II rained. In the morning
when this canvas covered hay-stuffed
push ball was put In MAY II was found
that II had accumulated rainwater. and II
accumulated more as II was rolled from the
pools about the field. The ball that should
have weighed fifty pounds soon came TO
weigh nearer 500. and II soon began to lose
shape It was hard work pushing this
ball about on a muddy field and only
half a game was played. and the first
push ball game played on Manhattan Is
land was declared a draw In its earlier
development the push ball was made OF
an alright rubber fabric. but that ball was
soon superseded by the ball in its present
perfect form of leather with a rubber
bladder.
The game OF push ball Is played be-
tween opposing teams of men on a grid
Iron with a goal at each end each team
trying to push the ball through the oppos-
ing teams goal Commonly played on a
| field. push ball may be played indoors as
well as out. Usually played by men afoot
IT is also played by men on horseback
Soon after its start push ball was in
| troduced into England, where It is nov
perhaps played, more than 1t is here. TIL,
game is really sort OF mammoth medicin,
ball contest. the principal difference beinl
that the push bail is too big to throw