Baseballs and black light

March 11, 2011

I’m going to start by showing you something really cool, and then I’m going to explain it…

Check out this photo that I took of some baseballs under a black light:

Do you see the “1297” on the left side of the photo? Do you see the other faint numbers that appear to be illuminated? That’s invisible ink. It only appears under ultraviolet light.

Let me show you a couple more pics…

Remember when I caught Barry Bonds’ 724th career home run on 8/16/06 at PETCO Park?

Here’s a side-by-side photo of that ball. The image on the left shows it in normal light; the image on the right shows it under a black light:

I learned about the invisible ink while doing research for my new book — and then I got to see the ink being stamped on the balls when I visited the Rawlings baseball factory in Costa Rica.

There are 350 employees at the factory who do nothing but stitch baseballs all day — by hand. Every employee has a stamp with a unique serial number. When the balls are done being stitched, they get stamped with invisible ink. That way, if an inspector finds a “correctable flaw” on a ball (for example, a stitch that’s not quite tight enough), he can examine it under a black light, mark down the serial number, and send it back to the person who stitched it. It’s basically an extra method of quality control.

Even though every ball gets stamped with the ink, you won’t always see it on the balls you get a hold of — that is, if you bother to go out and get yourself a black light. That’s because every ball gets wiped with a cleaning solvent at the factory. The purpose of the solvent isn’t to remove the invisible ink. Rawlings doesn’t care about that. The solvent is used to remove excess wax or oil that might’ve found its way onto the cowhide cover, and in the process, the invisible ink is often rubbed off.

Now, how about some more photos? Here are some balls in regular light…

…and here they are under a black light:

For an extra cool effect, download the previous two photos so you can open them both at once and flip back and forth.

I was absolutely stunned when I shined a black light on my baseballs for the first time and saw all these little serial numbers appear out of nowhere. I had snagged thousands of balls over the course of two decades, and I thought I knew everything about them, and then I discovered this whole secret element to my collection. It was like…I don’t know…not to get overly dramatic or anything, but it’s like I’d stumbled into an alternate reality. Of all the things I learned while doing research, this was definitely my favorite.

More pics?

Let’s take a look at the two commemorative balls that Heath Bell gave me on 7/23/09 at Citizens Bank Park. Here they are in regular light…

…and here they are under a black light:

As you can see, there’s a very faint invisible ink stamp on the World Baseball Classic ball — just to the left of where it says “official ball.”

Here’s a closer look at the brighter stamp on the right:

I’m not sure what it says or how to decipher it.

B08I?

Is that a period after the 8?

You know what? It doesn’t even matter. It’s just awesome. Let’s leave it at that.

Here’s one more photo for you:

I like the stamp on the lower left that simply says “6-11.”

See the one just to the upper right of it that says “036I”? That’s a 2008 All-Star Game ball, in case you were wondering.

That’s pretty much it, but let me just say quickly (for those who don’t know) that my new book is called The Baseball, and if you’re interested in checking it out, here it is on Amazon. Chapter 7 is called “The Rawlings Method,” and there’s a TON of info about the entire manufacturing process — stuff that some people might find hard to believe.

Written by Zack Hample Posted in Dailies