Basketballs

By Eric Geier

The basketball is one of the only sports balls that has kept its familiar shape and weight since its invention in 1891 by James A. Naismith. Naismith invented the game while he was a youth teacher at a Massachusetts YMCA. The first basketball used was actually a regulation soccer ball, because no one had developed a ball distinctive to the sport. The sport began to catch on with the kids around Massachusetts and eventually it spread across the country and was exported overseas. Naismith saw a need to create his own distinct ball for the game, so he used the basic materials others had used to make footballs or soccer balls, leather, a rubber bladder and stitching. This is still a formula used for most inflatable sports balls today. There are a total of eight pieces of leather that go into making a complete basketball. The first basketballs were made crudely, but still look almost identical to what is used today. The pieces are sewn together, leaving one line of stitching open for the rubber bladder to be inserted into the nearly complete leather casing. The rubber is placed in the leather shell and inflated. The last row of stitching is sewn up and the basketball is complete. It wasn’t easy to re-inflate the early basketballs; there was no air hole to stick a needle to pump up the ball. The final row of stitching had to be opened and the ball had to be re-inflated and sewn up again.

Today, each basketball league has strict requirements on the dimensions and weight of their specific basketballs. For example, in the NCAA, the ball must be between, and no more or less than 29.5 to 30 inches around. The ball must bounce between 49 and 54 inches when it is dropped from a height of six feet. These requirements are checked before every game. In the NBA, there is only one ball allowed on the court during the game and it must be an “official” NBA game ball created and manufactured by Spalding.

Spalding was the first company to mass produce basketballs for the sport and specifically for the NBA. The Spalding ball was invented at the end of the 1800s by A.G. Spalding as a request from James Naismith. They have been producing balls for basketball leagues and common consumers ever since. Now, balls can be pumped up using a simple air pump, the needle is inserted into the ball and it can be hand inflated, quite a large accomplishment compared to when the ball had to be unstitched to be inflated. Spalding has also created a ball called “Infusion.” This ball has a built in pump so the pressure can be maintained without having to have access to a manual air pump. In 2006, Spalding and the NBA announced that they would introduce a new ball to the NBA. The ball was made out of synthetic materials similar to leather. It was initially thought that it would give the players more grip and would be more consistent. However, after the ball was introduced, players began complaining that the ball became slippery, was hard to hold and that it even caused cuts on some player’s hands. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban even hired a team of scientists to test the balls to compare them to the old Spalding leather balls. Needless to say, after countless complaints from players, David Stern decided to go back to the old leather balls. Getting your hands on one of the now discontinued basketballs is a good investment for the future, because 15 or 20 years down the line you may not be able to find one of these balls, making it a valuable addition to any collection. If it is autographed by a player from that era, that will add to its value.

Did you mean, Naysmith, Spallding, Spaldding, Mark Cubban, Davd Stern or David Stren?