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Online now: 1 member: TABLE SETTER 11; 61 anonymousDiscussion: Rock softball
| Posted | Discussion |
| Sept. 23, 2013 Matt43 22 posts | Rock softball Just for a follow up on the Rock ball. We have used the same Rocks exclusively for batting practice for over a year with the replacing of 10 or 12 balls. We hit an average of once a week. We hit 40 balls apiece times 10 players. This is over 20,000 hits on these balls. We have observed maybe 6-8 balls knuckle during a 400 ball batting practice. This is hitting most of the time in 90 - 100 degrees. We also observed that even with all the hits on the ball they still retain most of their durability. |
| Sept. 24, 2013 taits Men's 65 4548 posts | The Fire balls are about the same as you describe. |
| Sept. 24, 2013 StevenL.Imlay Men's 60 174 posts | Matt43 We have taken out some Rock balls to hit to prepare for Vegas and have not seen the irregular flight problems either. However I believe other factors do affect the ball because we did see the ball do funny things in the Spring tournament in Vegas. SLi |
| Sept. 24, 2013 taits Men's 65 4548 posts | Speaking of funny things or perhaps movements, I've seen that with Trumps. Possibilities aside for 'injuries' or lack of defense, whatever, both teams are using the same ball. |
| Sept. 24, 2013 Marv19 Men's 60 498 posts | Matt43 I appreciate your observations. BUT Monday during bating practice with about 10 guys B4 the game I observed several. (temp 90 or so) One in particular was hit to me. The ball moved 10 feet at the last minute. (it was spinning not knuckling) At first I thought I was seeing things but the guys around me commented on it. One said but it doesn't move like that in the infield. I only have my home as my largest asset. And its just now coming out from underwater. If I lose it and the ability to make extra money I'll be a greeter at Wal-Mart at $8 an hour. Perspective is different when your A$$ is on the line. I told him it only takes one... just one! But the point is the ball doesn't have the correct core or compression test specs on it. If a guy loses an eye and my $2,000.000 doesn't cover it when I knew the ball was not represented properly then I'm the one thats screwed not the casual observer that thinks this is silly. Have a great time in Vegas guys Marv |
| Sept. 25, 2013 jackbrun Men's 70 57 posts | Marv -Relax, the minimum wage will soon be $9 per hour!!! Even Wal-mart has to pay that. See you at BP next week. |
| Sept. 25, 2013 Gorilla Boy Men's 50 271 posts | Just to make sure I understand, what balls are you saying that doesn't have the correct core or compression test specs on it? Thanks Mike Macenko |
| Sept. 25, 2013 Marv19 Men's 60 498 posts | Mike this is from Kevin that engineered the ball when at Anaconda " The rock and baden are not the same maybe, some confusion. The ISA ROCK is a .44/470 comp ball with a padded cover to fool the test on compression. The baden Fireballs I tested were .47/480 compression marked .44/375. NSA,ASA, and usssa have all banned multilayer balls due to the FACT that they were designed to cheat the compression test" |
| Sept. 26, 2013 Lefty Men's 75 721 posts | So every ball that we say is a mush ball is the only legal test balls. The asa dudley advance balls I have last forever and out hits the rock and the fire ball for distance. So by the experts on this board which some have no name all the balls we ever used in the the past were test wrong. I guess they should test softball gloves for some people can't catch a ball and may get hurt. Probably some people need to start bowling. |
| Sept. 26, 2013 jim16 Men's 65 180 posts | Lefty, The Dudley Thunder advance balls were multilayer balls and were a grossly illegal ball made to cheat the ASA tests and the ASA quickly banned them. To compare the advance to the ss usa balls by trump is not even close in comparison. You surely are no expert on balls or you would know that. The Baden fire is labeled 44 375 but if you look at the ball you will see it has no association stamp, that's because it wont test at 44 375 its actually much higher in in COR and compression. The trump ss usa ball actually tests out at 44 375 as its labeled and a legal 44 375 polycore ball will always be heat sensitive.. |
| Sept. 26, 2013 Marv19 Men's 60 498 posts | Lefty, to say EVERY ball is misleading and incorrect. The two balls in question are the Bauden Fireball and the ISA ROCK. We know from the engineer that designed the ROCK both balls have misleading specs on them. For what reason I haven't determined yet. The One ball that was competition to Anaconda was designed to mislead the test equipment. Then as the story goes the ball which is now the ISA ROCK was designed only to tell the competition that “we have a ball that will do the same so don’t produce it”. This was done as a bluff. The bluff didn't work so both produced their respective balls. The bottom line is I wont use a ball that has misleading specs on it... Plain and Simple. Where we get into which will and wont breakdown is a matter of conjecture. The only thing we can do is try to put a fair ball on the field that at game time is at a temperature that is consistent with keeping the specs on the ball. Then by using a leather composite cover ball it will reduce the degrading over the next hour and a half. We also plan to test the ball. Well... in our own way. I made arrangements with Grants Posse (local 50M team) to use balls in batting practice and hit the crap out of it in all conditions. We already know what the ISA ROCK does cuz we meet twice a week and hit the crap out of it. Only problem is we are heading into Fall and the ambient temperatures are cooling. I’m also going to house these balls in a cooler behind the umpires at the games. One of the interesting things to come out of a conversation last night was we test bats all the time. Guys give us results all the time. But no one tests the balls. So this being considered what do we know about the ball that is being used when guys boast about certain bats? Interesting question dont you think? I really don't know what else to do for you guys. But I’m pretty sure no one else is going to this much trouble. |
| Sept. 26, 2013 Lefty Men's 75 721 posts | Jim16 and marv19 thanks for the info. |
| July 22, 2015 DOERBAUM Men's 55 86 posts | SO I AM GOING TO VEGAS FOR THE FIRST TIME THIS YEAR (55 MAJOR). I WANTED TO HIT THE BALLS USED OUT THERE SO I BOUGHT A DOZEN ISA ROCKS. CAN SOMEONE GIVE ME AN IDEA OF THE PERFORMANCE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A FHC TRUMP STOTE AND THESE BALLS?? JUST CURIOUS AND I DIDNT WANT TO GO OUT THERE BLIND AS TO WHAT WE WERE GOING TO BE HITTING. AS A POINT OF COMPARISON, I HIT THE STOTE ABOUT 340 ON A GOOD DAY (280 ON A BAD ONE....LOL). ANY ENLIGHTENMENT OUT THERE?? |
| July 22, 2015 DaveDowell Men's 70 4315 posts | Doerbaum ... With many, many years of serving as a T.D. in Las Vegas and watching 1,000's of games, my rather unscientific guesstimate is that you may expect to experience about a 10% increase in range ... This is due to the performance of The Rock on its own, along with a fairly unique combination of altitude, dry/drier air and breezy conditions much of the time in Las Vegas ... Again, not a scientific approach, just a gut feel ... |
