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Best Baseballs

Updated February 2023
Bottom line
Pros
Cons
Best of the Best
Rawlings Bucket of Baseballs, 24
Rawlings
Bucket of Baseballs, 24
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Trusted Brand
Bottom Line

Outstanding price point for a large number of baseballs you can use for practice.

Pros

High-quality baseballs. Includes 24 standard balls in a convenient bucket to carry them. Works best for younger players who won't put a lot of stress on the baseballs with high-powered swings.

Cons

Not a game-quality ball. Includes a cork center so not overly durable.

Best Bang for the Buck
Wilson Practice and Soft Compression Baseballs
Wilson
Practice and Soft Compression Baseballs
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Good for Beginners
Bottom Line

A softer baseball that is well suited for beginning players and youth leagues.

Pros

Excellent practice baseball. Made 93% softer than regulation pro baseball, ideal for youth practice and recreation. Real leather cover. Cushioned cork center. Long-lived.

Cons

Cosmetic blemishes. May swell noticeably when wet.

SKLZ Safety Baseballs, 2 Pack
SKLZ
Safety Baseballs, 2 Pack
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Safe Learning
Bottom Line

Good price for 2 safety balls that will help you teach your youngster to play.

Pros

Same size and weight as standard baseballs. Soft exterior will make youngsters feel more comfortable trying to catch the ball. You can hit these safety balls just as you would a baseball.

Cons

Build quality is questionable. Made for t-ball, so not a standard baseball.

Thorza Weighted Baseballs for Throwing
Thorza
Weighted Baseballs for Throwing
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Weighted Balls
Bottom Line

These weighted baseballs help train a pitcher's arm and closely resemble game balls.

Pros

Weighted baseballs for strengthening arms. Ideal for developing pitchers. Range of weights from 6 to 12 ounces. Designed to resemble regulation balls with raised red seam stitching and leather cover.

Cons

Not for game play. Not real leather.

Wilson Pro Series Baseballs, 12
Wilson
Pro Series Baseballs, 12
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Game Ready
Bottom Line

A high-quality ball with prominent seams, excellent for high school-age players and games.

Pros

Features raised seams 20% higher than regular baseballs for added pitch movement and control. Also aids fielders in ball pickup and handling. Ideal for high school-level training and play.

Cons

Somewhat pricey, may be too expensive for practice use.

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BestReviews spends thousands of hours researching, analyzing, and testing products to recommend the best picks for most consumers. We only make money if you purchase a product through our links, and all opinions about the products are our own. About BestReviews  
BestReviews spends thousands of hours researching, analyzing, and testing products to recommend the best picks for most consumers. We buy all products with our own funds, and we never accept free products from manufacturers.About BestReviews 
HOW WE TESTED

We recommend these products based on an intensive research process that's designed to cut through the noise and find the top products in this space. Guided by experts, we spend hours looking into the factors that matter, to bring you these selections.

30
Models
Considered
137
Consumers
Consulted
8
Hours
Researched
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Buying guide for best baseballs

The game of baseball is called the national pastime, and the simple baseball is one of the most important components of that pastime. What you might not know is that there are many different types of baseballs, and picking the right one depends on your needs.

If you’re looking for practice baseballs for your kid’s T-ball team, you need a far different piece of equipment than the ball needed by a Major League Baseball team.

That’s where BestReviews can help. We have put together this baseball shopping guide that explains the different materials, costs, and other factors you need to know about various types of baseballs, whether you’re looking for a signed souvenir from your favorite professional player, a ball for your weekend league, or a practice ball to use in the backyard.

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A signed Babe Ruth home-run baseball from the 1933 Major League All-Star Game sold a decade ago for $800,000.

Official baseball specs

To be considered an official baseball, the balls must adhere to certain specifications, including the following:

  • Circumference: 9 to 9.25 inches

  • Diameter: 2.86 to 2.94 inches

  • Weight: 5 to 5.25 ounces

  • Stitches: 108 red stitches
     

Before purchasing baseballs for game play, make sure you understand your league’s rules for baseball specifications, especially regarding the style of the seams. Some leagues require certain certification stamps on the ball, too.

Also understand that some baseballs aren’t designed to be official balls. These include T-ball baseballs, which have a soft exterior, or weighted baseballs, which are used for training. These have different dimensions and weights than official balls.

Official baseball materials

Even though official baseballs all look basically the same, the balls consist of a few different materials. Here are the common materials used in different parts of the baseball designed for practice and game play.

Cover

The baseball cover consists of two pieces of either leather or a synthetic material shaped like an elongated number eight. When the pieces are laid in place and stitched together, they completely cover the spherical interior of the ball.

  • Leather: Most baseballs are made of cow leather, which offers a more secure grip than synthetic materials. Leather balls last longer than synthetic balls, but the durability difference between the two is less now than it was several years ago.

  • Synthetic: Most synthetic covers are a type of vinyl. Synthetic covers resist dirt and grass stains better than leather, meaning the ball will look newer longer. Synthetic baseballs cost less than leather balls.
     

Stitching

The red stitching on a baseball looks the same from ball to ball, but manufacturers offer three different styles. Your baseball league will have rules on the type of stitching it allows.

  • Raised: Younger players use baseballs with raised seams. Higher seams enable the player to grip the ball better and spin the ball faster. A pitcher wants to put spin on the ball, causing it to move slightly as it approaches the batter.

  • Rolled: A rolled seam is slightly raised above the surface of the ball. It enables a little less grip and spin than a raised seam. However, experienced pitchers can still spin these balls successfully. Players use baseballs with rolled seams in higher-level amateur and professional baseball leagues.

  • Flat: Some baseballs have seams that lie flat on the surface. This style is most often used in a pitching machine. (Pitching machines also use specialized dimpled balls.) A baseball with raised or rolled seams won’t work well in a pitching machine because the seams catch on the machinery. Leagues rarely use flat-seam balls for game play because the flat seam is harder to grip, making the ball harder to control.
     

Outer Core

The outer core, or windings, is the extremely thick layer directly under the cover. It consists of layers of wool yarn tightly wound around the inner core. While wool yarn sounds like it would be soft, it’s wound so tightly that it gives the ball a hard feel. Tight windings enable the ball to spring off the bat.

Some youth-level baseballs have a looser style of windings, giving the ball less speed and power off the bat and making it a safer type of ball for younger defenders.

Some baseballs use cotton for the windings, but these balls are considered to be of a slightly lower quality than those with wool yarn. A ball with cotton in the windings layer will lose its shape sooner than a ball made with wool.

Many baseballs use both wool and cotton to save manufacturing costs. Official MLB baseballs use at least 85% wool yarn.

Inner Core

The center of the baseball consists of a cushioned cork inner core about the size of a large marble or grape. There are typically a couple of layers of rubber molded around the cork core. You might find some lower-quality baseballs that have a rubber core. Some balls use a cork and rubber blend for the inner core, but cushioned cork is the preferred material.

Cheap baseballs might have only a large rubber core and no windings. These balls work adequately for practice, but they’re not desirable for game play.

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Did you know?
Early baseballs were not uniform in shape or weight because many different substances were used for the center core.
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Baseball types and prices

There are different types of baseballs for different uses, from pitching machine practice to youth league games to major league play. Baseballs vary widely in price, too, from about $1 to about $15 apiece. For baseballs designed for game play or practice, you’ll save some money by purchasing balls in bulk. Retailers commonly sell baseballs by the dozen, although larger quantities are available, too. Collectible baseballs are a whole different category. You could spend $1,000 or much more for a souvenir ball.

New baseballs: Most baseballs designed for youth leagues or adult recreational leagues are sold by the dozen, running $25 to $60 for a box (about $2 to $5 per ball). You also can purchase baseballs in buckets of two dozen to five dozen that cost $1 to $3.50 per ball. Most of these balls work well for game play or practice.

Training baseballs: Some retailers offer heavier training baseballs designed to help players develop arm strength for more velocity when pitching or throwing. Individual weighted training baseballs can cost $8 to $15 apiece. Sets of these baseballs cost $25 to $75, depending on the number of balls included.

Pitching machine baseballs: Dimpled pitching machine baseballs are available for $1.50 to $3 per ball (in a box of a dozen).

Soft baseballs: Soft-sided balls, also called safety balls, are made for younger players, such as T-ball players, and cost $2 to $5 apiece. These baseballs are also available in boxes of a dozen, costing a bit less per ball.

Official MLB baseballs: A single official baseball designed for Major League Baseball game play could cost $10 to $15 at retail. For a box of a dozen, you’ll probably pay $60 to $90.

Souvenir baseballs: Official MLB baseballs printed with special souvenir logos or signed by players go for anywhere from $10 to $1,000 or more. These balls are designed as souvenirs or collectibles rather than game play, but they could be used for play.

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Each year, Rawlings makes between 1.5 million and 2.5 million official MLB baseballs in Costa Rica. The balls are used for game play, practice, and souvenirs.

FAQ

Q. How is an official professional-level baseball made?

A. The baseball consists of a cushioned cork center core that weighs roughly 0.88 ounces. The manufacturer then wraps two rubber layers around the cork before adding primarily wool yarn (and a small percentage of cotton yarn). The wool is wound around the core by machine to create uniform tension. Each ball might contain thousands of linear feet of thin wool yarn. Finally, the manufacturer uses adhesive to attach two pieces of cowhide leather to the wool yarn to create the exterior of the ball and stitches the leather together.

Q. Why do some baseballs appear to be off-white?

A. As baseballs are used, they take on a grayish or brownish color. The exterior of the ball may also pick up grass stains. Game officials often rub new baseballs with a special type of mud to make the balls less slick and enable players to grip the ball better. If you see baseballs that look off-white, even when first put into play, it’s because of this mud. MLB baseballs only use mud from the Delaware River in New Jersey.

Q. What are some nicknames for the baseball?

A. Baseball has developed quite a large number of nicknames for the ball itself over the years. “Hardball” may be the most common baseball nickname, and it probably originated to differentiate baseballs from softballs. A ball may be called a “horsehide,” referring to what baseballs were made of many decades ago. A baseball might also be called a “pill” or a “seed,” but these also refer to balls that are thrown especially hard and on target.

Q. How long will a baseball last?

A. A well-built baseball should last for several hundred bat strikes before falling apart. However, baseballs might begin to show scuffs, loose seams, or general wear and tear after as few as a dozen uses, depending on what objects they happen to strike. In a major league game, where spectators can keep balls hit into the stands, the average ball stays in play for seven or eight pitches.

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