As a coach or baseball parent, you probably already know how
easy it is to “go through” baseballs. While baseballs can be fairly hardy
little items, the wrong circumstances can easily render them ruined. If a
baseball sits out in the rain overnight, for example, or gets wet in any other
way, you can pretty much bet it won’t fly, hit, or throw as well the next time
you use it.
 |
| Cracked baseball (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
The easy option, of course, is to just throw the “ruined”
baseballs out and buy new ones, but when you leave out a whole team’s worth of
baseballs or when you’re just trying to save money, that option doesn’t look so
great. Fortunately, throwing them away isn’t your only choice. Believe it or
not, if you have an oven and a little time, you can bring those old baseballs
back to life.
All you have to do to perform this “miracle cure” is to take
the ruined ball or balls and stick them into your oven. Make sure the balls
aren’t near open flame or direct heat. Once they’re properly situated- the
second oven rack, the one not as close as possible to the heat, is usually the
best choice- crank the oven up to around 180.
The, let the balls sit in the heat for a few hours- usually
around five hours will do the trick. Check on them often, and if you see them
turning even a little bit brown, it’s time to remove them!
When you do take them out, they should be warm to the touch
and scorching inside (not that you’d know), similar to baked potatoes. You’ll
find that, once they cool, they are as good as new and ready for play. This is
a simple little tip, but it can save you big bucks in the long run.
No comments:
Post a Comment