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is a vintage Official Charles O. Finley Orange Baseball, the brainchild of
Oakland
Athletics owner
Charlie Finley. The orange baseball was used in
the A's 11–5 exhibition loss to the Indians. The
maverick owner Charlie Finley efforts to
introduce a bright orange baseball that Charlie thought might put some pizazz into the stuffy
ole national pastime. The A’s owner unveiled his
masterpiece in 1970, using it in spring training when
Bowie Kuhn balked at letting him try it in a regular-season
ball game. The baseball is regulation size, and indicates
right on the sweet spot that it’s an Official Charles
O. Finley baseball. The ball never caught on at the big
league level. A great piece of historic baseball
memorabilia.
The
Orange Baseball had two principal advantages over conventional white baseballs: (1) fans could follow the flight of an orange ball more easily than a white ball, especially when hit to the outfield, and (2) the batter could more easily see an
orange ball being delivered at a speed of 90-100 miles per hour out of the normally white background of a pitcher's uniform. In exhibition games, fans reacted in an overwhelmingly positive manner to the
Orange Baseball. Umpires also attested to the benefits of the
Orange Baseball, stating that the ball was not only easier to see from behind the plate, but gave rise to a greater number of hits and fewer fielding errors in exhibition games in which the
orange baseball was used.
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