Message board »Message Board home »Sign-in or register to get started
Online now: 1 member: TABLE SETTER 11; 78 anonymousDiscussion: Ball B.S. In lee county
| Posted | Discussion |
| May 17, 2015 DOERBAUM Men's 55 86 posts | Ball B.S. In lee county Ok, I know I have broached this subject before, but after the fhc tourney in lee county this weekend, I now understand the bitching about the stote ball. My question is how can the ball used in lee county be so much worse than the ball used in Tampa last month? Both balls marked trump stote 44/375. The balls in Tampa were fine even in the mid day games when it was HOT. The sacks of snot they called balls that were used in lee county this weekend were useless. I generally hit the ball pretty good and I was amazed at the lack of performance. As a personal comment , if I sold a product that was so inferior through my company, that it caused the amount of bitching I have witnessed (and now joined in) I would be embarrassed (and NEVER sell it again) . Shame on trump and shame on the tourney organizers for providing such a piece of KRAP for use in their tourney. I know this is a ssusa site and it was an fhc tourney, but had to put it out there. |
| May 17, 2015 Omar Khayyam 1357 posts | Doerbaum, the "balls in Tampa were fine, even in the mid-day games when it was HOT." This sounds like a ringing endorsement of the Trump Stote 44/375. Then they were horrible in Lee County. You go on to condemn the manufacturer and the TD. Let me suggest a few options to yours about why the Trump went from "fine" to "KRAP" in less than a month. Humidity Improper storage of balls Last year's (or year before's balls) Not just poor storage but perhaps the balls were cooked in the wrong storage area. Bigger fields Mismarked balls by manufacturer Pirated/bootlegged balls etc., etc. Seems to me to be more potential situations than that the manufacturer went from making good balls to socks in less than a month. |
| May 18, 2015 PJ3P Men's 50 94 posts | Different grade of the same ball. And yes the SSUSA stamped ball was awful compared to the FHC stamped ball. |
| May 18, 2015 OZ40 549 posts | Our pick-up group just purchased 3 dozen 44/375 Trump Stote ISA balls for our morning pick-up games. Great balls good knock sound off the bats and they hold up good. Every two games we use a new ball and use the previous ball as a back up. No complaints with the ISA version 44/375. Maybe the people running your tournament should have checked or observed their balls being used and made adjustments at the fields. Keeping the players happy brings them back next year. All things considered, coming in less than first place is more palatible as long as you know the balls didn't diminish your efforts. |
| May 18, 2015 DCPete 409 posts | True that; the SSUSA Trump Stote ball is such an inferior product that they had to add a new rule last year that penalizes a team for trying to put in any other 44/375 ball. This ball performs more like a 40 COR ball with very little rebound or bounce off the bat so fly balls just don't carry as far as regular 44/375 ball would. There was only 1 HR hit by either team in our 5 games; hopefully teams won't start shaving their senior bats to compensate. |
| May 18, 2015 curveball Men's 65 705 posts | Just designate the "Rock" ball as the only official ball, problem solved! If that's the ball of the World Championships, lets use it in all events. |
| May 18, 2015 taits Men's 65 4548 posts | 'Rock' has about 4 different balls, not all the same inside, but for cor\come 'listed' may reflect same. Outside coverings may not be same either. Overall good balls depending weather and equipment used with them. No one ball will satisfy everyone, just like bata and bags let alone the rules. |
| May 18, 2015 PJ3P Men's 50 94 posts | While it is true that the summer heat [March to October]in Florida does have an adverse affect on the softballs we use, this months FHC tournament was played with a lower quality version of the Trump Stote. I was told that they ordered the normal balls but what they got was all that was available. Supply issues have been the norm this year. Even Dudley has not been able to supply enough Stadium balls to USSSA. No conspiracy involved, just issues getting balls made and shipped in a timely manner. The FHC tried to do the right thing but it was outside of their control. |
| May 18, 2015 curveball Men's 65 705 posts | taits, the X-Rock-ISA-Y, the ball used at the SSUSA Worlds at the end of the year, is the ball I was referring to. It is a ball that holds up under any weather conditions. It stays lively even in the heat. We use them over and over all summer in the 100 plus temp and don't see any drop in performance. 7-10 of us hit twice a week with BP balls mostly the Rock, they hold up for many, many swings and there doesn't seem to be a performance drop off after months of hitting. I don't know anything about the other 3 Rock balls you refer to, only used the X-Rock. You'd have to ask those that may have experience with them. |
| May 18, 2015 tattooball 774 posts | We've had no problem getting balls. Every container has been on time within a few days. Our only problem has been supplying all of the new customers due to shortages of other companies. Wonder why they have so many problems? |
| May 18, 2015 DOERBAUM Men's 55 86 posts | HI ALAN, SO FROM WHAT I AM READING, THEY WERE TWO DIFFERENT BALLS WITH THE SAME STAMP. THE TOURNEY IN TAMPA WAS FINE AS FAR AS THE BALLS GO. NICE CRACK OFF THE BAT AND GOOD PERFORMANCE. THE BALLS IN LEE COUNTY REMINDED ME OF THE INFAMOUS "SKYHAWK" OF THE LATE 80'S AND EARLY 90'S. WHAT A SACK OF SNOT!! I DONT PARTICULARLY WORRY ABOUT TEMPERATURE AFFECTING PERFORMANCE, BUT WHEN I NAIL ONE RIGHT ON THE BUTTON AND IT JUST BARELY HITS THE FENCE........ANY OTHER BALL I HAVE HIT HERE IN FL WOULD HAVE BEEN 340+. I GUESS THE FINAL QUESTION I POSE IS, WHY ON EARTH WOULD ANYBODY PATRONIZE A PRODUCT THAT HAS SUCH A VARIATION IN PERFORMANCE AND A MISLEADING RATING. THIS BEING SAID, AFTER THE FIRST GAME I WENT TO NOTHING BUT LINE DRIVES, (WE HIT INTO THE 15MPH WIND EVERY GAME EXCEPT THE LAST INNING OF THE LAST GAME), AND ENDED UP OVER .800 WITH 4 WALKS. SO, I DONT BITCH BECAUSE I HAD A BAD TOURNAMENT, I JUST CANT STAND MISLEADING INFORMATION. EVIDENTLY, A LOT OF OTHER FOLKS DONT EITHER, AS I HEARD A LOT OF CARPING ABOUT THE "SOCKS" THEY WERE FORCED TO HIT. ALSO ALAN, THE BALLS AT YOUR CAMP WERE FANTASTIC. GET THE DURN THINGS SANCTIONED AND CORNER THE MARKET!! |
| May 19, 2015 tattooball 774 posts | Dave that same multi layer ball has been out since 2003 and sanctioned, it used to be sanctioned by all associations but all but 1 banned it. Now you can buy it with ISA sanctioning. |
| May 19, 2015 Nancy Allen Men's 55 1438 posts | I used to know so much about balls, but now I just defer to the experts. Thanks, guys, you know who you are. The Brickyard went 5 days. The first 3 were fairly cool; the last 2 were a little warm and humid. We had zero complaints on the Stote. I know there are better balls, but there were still plenty of balls that made it past the 305' fence. |
| May 19, 2015 Nancy Allen Men's 55 1438 posts | Alan, the Stotes were stored in a room without air conditioning at the park. I do not know how many were stored in refrigerators or freezers at local motels. |
| May 19, 2015 17Black Men's 60 414 posts | I agree with NANCY ALLEN, the Stotes used at The Brickyard were flying all over the place. In 50 Major, in several games, both teams hit their homer allotments, AND several were in the 400+ range. Nancy, I also remember the last two days being "hotter" than " a little warm and humid" LOL------it was Sunny and about 90+ |
| May 19, 2015 DOERBAUM Men's 55 86 posts | LOVE THE TOURNAMENTS. LOVE HANGING OUT WITH A BUNCH OF GUYS THAT STILL LOVE THE GAME. GIVE ME A WORTH BLUE DOT AND AN BLUE EST ANY DAY! LAST QUESTION..... WHY DONT THE ASSOCIATIONS FOR SENIOR SOFTBALL GET TOGETHER AND SET A STANDARD THAT IS ACCEPTABLE TO ALL INVOLVED? I'M TIRED FROM BITCHING, SO I AM GOING TO GO TAKE A NAP AND DREAM OF WORTH "RED DOTS" AND DOUBLE WALL DIMARINIS. (CIRCA 1995) DREAM BIG RIGHT! |
| May 19, 2015 neck10 714 posts | NANCY IS THE GATE CLOSED??????????????????? |
| May 19, 2015 Nancy Allen Men's 55 1438 posts | Alan, I just know that shipment was really good, and we all know what people try back at the motel. 17black, since you were playing in it, I go with what you say. The 5 days kind of blended together. So maybe we were pretty close to Florida conditions. Neck10, the gate is closed, but the balls are still going through it. Now that is the field that I call mine, and it has a few problems. I only wish that I had been doing that game since he was having such a bad time. He said that he has sworn off doing seniors ever again. It may have been Coachie messing with him. |
| May 20, 2015 the wood Men's 65 1123 posts | We have used the Trump Stote 44/375 Optic Yellow ball for 10 years in BP. Everyone knows that the heat does impact its compression, hence the change in performance. In addition, we have received 1-2 shipments that were totally different than others... i.e. they were sub standard. We used them under the same conditions as the others and there was an obvious disparity. The 'bad ones' had higher seams than the others. How balls are stored is a factor... but we store the bad with the good... I am not one who believes that an FHC stamp would cause a ball to react in a different way than one stamped 'SSUSA'. The likely difference could be storage or it could be exactly as previously suggested, there is a difference in product. Bob Woodroof |
| May 20, 2015 PJ3P Men's 50 94 posts | The balls in question were very obviously a different grade of cover and core. Heat and storage had NOTHING to do with it. It was an entirely different ball. |
| May 20, 2015 DOERBAUM Men's 55 86 posts | AMEN TO THAT PJ3P!! PLAYED IN THE LEAGUE HERE IN WINTER HAVEN ON TUESDAY MORNING AND HIT THE SAME BALLS FROM THE TAMPA TOURNEY. (OUR LOCAL TEAM WAS THE SPONSOR, SO YES, THE EXACT SAME BALLS THAT WERE ON THE FIELD IN TAMPA.) EVEN AFTER BEING HIT FOR A WHOLE TOURNAMENT, SITTING IN THE TRUNK OF A CAR FOR A MONTH, AND BEING USED IN B.P. HERE IN W.H. TWICE A WEEK IN THE LEAGUE, THEY WERE STILL LIGHT YEARS BETTER THAN THE SOCKS THEY HAD IN LEE COUNTY. |
| June 5, 2015 leftybob Men's 60 109 posts | Rumor has it that the balls used in Lee County will be the balls FHC uses from here on out. Lets see if thats the case in West Palm. |
| June 7, 2015 PJ3P Men's 50 94 posts | Well if thats the case, I better start cleaning off the dust from my fishing gear. I promise you I won't waste my time to play with that piece of garbage. |
