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How Many Baseballs Are Used in an MLB Season?
The answer is rooted in a dark chapter of baseball history
Modern baseball features an intricate dance between catcher and umpire which plays out after nearly every pitch. The catcher, once sure of the call from the ump, will reach out their free hand to receive a new baseball before throwing or handing off the ball they just caught. This happens time and again over the entire course of the game. The umpire, wearing a ball-holding belt, will continuously dish out fresh balls to the catcher as needed.
This is because today’s baseballs have an average lifespan of just two pitches. Add in foul balls, and recent record-high numbers of home runs, and you can see how the total of baseballs that are used and discarded over the course of a single Major League Baseball (MLB) season could be astronomical.
Why are so many baseballs used per game? The answer stems from a terrible incident that occurred in 1920 that resulted in the only death in MLB’s history in consequence of a play that happened on the field.
The death of Ray Chapman
Baseball in the earliest parts of the 20th century is a completely different game than it is now. This was known as the dead-ball era due to the fact that games were low scoring due to the…
