Any used baseball will be slightly dirty, but the ones they use in the professional match will be the dirtiest. Not only do baseballs in the major and minor leagues get scuff marks, dirt, and grass stains, but they’re also smudged with mud on intention.
Thus, the question arises, “How to Clean Baseballs?” Even if you do, how can you clean the baseball without ruining it?
During a baseball game, a ball can get dirty, muddy, or wet, or it can pick up a lot of dirt and debris.
Despite your best efforts, your ball is probably not going to remain pristine forever.
You might notice that your baseball doesn’t look as good as it did when you first got it.
The obvious truth is that the more you play with your baseball, the dirtier it will become.
A loss of gloss is a small price to pay for the improved grip that the baseball’s unique “magic” mud provides. If you want to get a baseball back to how it looked when it was new, you should use methods that work with the white leather it’s made of.
Why Do Baseballs Turn Yellow
The baseballs with “Haiti” stamped below the Rawlings logo were not produced using distilled water, increasing the likelihood that enzymes may change the ball’s color over time. Because of a flaw in the manufacturing process, these baseballs usually have yellow or brown stains on them.
Baseballs will turn yellow from the oils on your hands, so it’s best to hold them by the stitching or put them in ball cubes. During a game, a normal ball would get yellow from tobacco juice or other substances put on it by players. It would also get damaged, with small tears and seams that break.
Hitting dirty baseball can also make baseball bats dirty. The bat can be cleaned in a minute, but there are some cautions. So, how to clean baseball bats properly? Know it all here.
How To Clean Baseballs
As I said before, baseball can get dirty if it’s played too much. But that doesn’t always mean that your baseball needs to be replaced with a new one.
You can instead take some steps to make sure your ball gets back to its best shape.
Maybe you feel like it’s been a while since you cleaned your baseball.
What should you do?
Let’s take a look at a few different ways to clean a baseball and get it back to its best shape.
The baseball might have signatures or player names written on the white leather. To learn how to clean baseballs, you have to decide how clean you want these special baseballs or the ones you use every day to be.
You also want to keep the ball’s stitching, weight, and density, so I’ve added a few easy tips you should not overlook on how to clean a baseball!
Here are some terrific do-it-yourself (DIY) ideas and solutions for cleaning baseballs so that your or your team’s filthy baseballs may look like new in no time.
Eraser
Using an eraser is one way to clean the leather on your baseball if it has scuff marks and is dirty.
This method is simple and takes only a little while.
Also, it is very cheap and doesn’t require any special tools or resources.
It’s a method for cleaning baseballs that isn’t appropriate for extremely dirty balls. It will work well on a baseball that needs only a little bit of cleaning.
If a baseball is muddy or wet, you will need to use a stronger way to clean it.
Use a simple eraser from the store to clean your baseball. Yes, the simple erase you use to clean your paper.
I use a white eraser to clean my baseball and I think you should do it too. If you get a fancier erase which have color, it may stain your baseball with its color and get your ball off color.
Steps
1. Start by getting any water or liquid off the surface of your baseball.
2. Now, use your white eraser to rub your baseball all over, turning it as you go.
3. Keep doing this until you can see some of the dirt or stains coming off. Make sure you get the whole ball.
4. Make sure you also clean the threads. The threads are a common landing spot for dust and grime.
The eraser should be able to remove any stains that are visible on the leather, and the ball should start to get lighter or brighter again.
Magic Eraser
You can use a magic eraser instead of a regular eraser. It works even better on stains or dirt patches that are hard to get rid of.
A famous household cleaning tool, magic erasers are made of melamine foam. Even though magic erasers are a fairly new type of cleaner, they have become very popular and can usually be found in any grocery store. Use a magic eraser if you need to quickly clean the whole surface of the ball.
White leather is especially easy to clean with a magic eraser after any kind of stain. Keep in mind, though, that it also has ink stains. Don’t use a magic eraser on a ball that your favorite player has signed.
If you rub the magic eraser too hard on the baseball, the surface may wrinkle. You can fix the surface with lukewarm water and an iron. The same thing works for wrinkled baseball caps. There are a lot more ways.
This article on How To Fix A Wrinkled Baseball Cap For Longer Use will enlighten your knowledge even more,
Steps
1. Moisten the magic eraser with running water.
2. Once you’ve gotten rid of the extra water, use the eraser just as you would a standard one.
3. Don’t even try to touch the threads; the magic eraser is probably too harsh for them.
Dish Washing Liquid And Warm Water
If your baseball hasn’t been cleaned for a long time, the best option for you is to go with dishwashing liquid and warm water.
This method is universal and can be used to clean many different things.
In addition to helping revitalize the ball, this will also make it seem a lot cleaner and whiter.
It doesn’t matter what kind of dish soap is used. But if you don’t want to damage the leather, try a dishwashing liquid (I use Dawn dishwashing soap) that isn’t as harsh.
Steps
1. With dish soap and warm water, and a dish sponge, wash the baseball.
If your baseball is really dirty, you can clean it with a toothbrush or a soft dish brush.
3. Brush the baseball in a circle for a few minutes to get rid of the dirt, stains, and other things that are on it.
4. Make sure to be careful around the threads so that you don’t pull them or break them.
5. Take the ball and give it a good washing, then let it dry in the sun or by a heat source.
6. This is only to ensure that the baseball is not harmed after being submerged in water.
Bleach Diluted With Water
You might find that your baseball is just dull and a different color, not dirty. Most of cases the ball looks yellow color. In this case, bleach mixed with water might be the key to getting a baseball to look brighter and whiter.
Bleach is most used to clean baseball white uniforms. There are many red flags which you should take care before you put bleach on baseball or baseball uniform. Take care of these instructin before you clean white baseball pants.
This method will get rid of old, hard-to-remove stains and get your baseball back to its store-bought form. Also, the bleach will clean your baseball, which is especially important if many of your teammates have touched it.
Your ball will be free of the germs that have grown on it over time if you use this technique.
Steps
1. For this method, you can use bleach like Clorox to eliminate stains and other kinds of discoloration.
2. On the other hand, if you’re worried about hurting the leather of the ball, try bleach that doesn’t contain chlorine, like non-chlorin Clorox.
3. Add a quarter to a half cup of bleach to a cup of warm water and stir until the bleach is dissolved.
4. Use a cotton swab or any old toothbrush you can find to scrub the ball to get rid of the stains and discoloration.
5. Keep away from the ball’s threads. It will only change color, and the bleach could hurt the threads.
Stain Removal Laundry Detergent And Warm Water
You can also easily clean the outside of your baseball with detergent and warm water. This approach is often used to clean other baseball equipment, such as baseball caps or hats. This guide will help you to clean baseball cap and retain its original form.
For now, let’s focus on cleaning baseball with detergent. These are the steps to follow-
1. Fill a basin with hot water and add half a cup of stain-fighting laundry detergent. OxiClean is one such product.
2. To use, drop your baseball into the basin and let it rest there for 5-10 minutes. When this time is up, take out your baseball and wash it with a microfiber cloth.
3. Any big stains will be gone or will be much easier to get out because of the warm water and laundry detergent.
4. Soak the sponge in the mixture of laundry detergent and hot water. Rub the ball with the cloth in circular movements where there are apparent stains or dirt marks..
5. As an option for a microfiber cloth, you can also use a nylon bristle brush.
6. Be careful not to rub the ball too aggressively, however, or you risk scratching it. Be careful around the threads.
7. Check to see if your ball’s color has become brighter and if any stains that you can see have faded.
8. If it doesn’t, give it another 5–10 minutes and give the ball another scrub.
9. Make sure you give your ball good washing and drying before using it again.
Baseball Cleaning Machine
Did you know there is a machine made just for cleaning baseballs?
This method might cost a lot, but it lets you clean a lot of baseballs in one go. As a result, cleaning them is a breeze and just takes a couple of hours.
Figure 7- A baseball cleaning machine is expensive, but it saves time and effort
If you have a lot of used, dirty, or muddy baseballs, this is the best way to clean them.
Steps
1. First, get a group of baseballs that all have about the same quantity of dirt on them.
2. Now, put the number of baseballs that the machine says to put in its container. As needed, put a cleaner for baseballs into the machine.
You can add some of these pieces, which you can buy online. Your baseballs can take few washes before they are completely worn out.
3. Run the machine as long as you don’t see your baseball cleaned perfectly. Set the timer for about an hour if the baseballs are just a little bit dirty.
4. Set the timer for at least 2 or 3 hours if the baseballs are mildly dirty. Increase the time as per the dirtiness of your baseball.
5. It might take between three and six hours to clean them. If the baseballs are very dirty and stained, you can leave the machine running overnight.
6. Check that the balls are clean when the time is up. If not, throw them back in for a few more hours.
Remove stickers or gum From the Baseball
If there are stickers or gum on the surface f your baseball, use a wet cloth or a piece of scrap paper to clean them off. First, wet the paper or cloth, and then press down on the gum or sticker. After a few minutes, use the cloth or paper to take off the sticker or gum.
Need more specific details. Check out below.
Get A Vacuum
Having a vacuum cleaner on hand can make it much easier to clean a baseball. You can use the vacuum to pick up any gum or stickers that are stuck and then use your fingers to take them off.
Use A Liquid Soap
If you don’t have access to a vacuum, you may clean the ball using liquid soap. Stickers or gum that are stuck can be easily removed with a paper towel or cloth after using soap to soften them.
Use A Scrubber
Try using a scrubber if you’re still having trouble getting the stickers or gum off the ball. Any dirt, grime or adhesive will easily come off as the scrubber has friction surface.
Never Rub Too Hard
Don’t try to rub a baseball too hard when you’re trying to clean it. This could ruin the surface of the ball and make it hard to get rid of tough dirt. Just clean it up as best you can with gentle pressure and soft strokes.
Dry The Ball Before Storage
After cleaning the ball, make sure it’s dry before putting it back in your collection. This will help keep moisture from building up on your ball over time, which could damage the surface.
How to Clean a Baseball With a Signature on It
Is it possible to resurrect an old baseball that has been signed by the players?
From what I can tell, baseballs with player signatures on them cannot be restored back to the previous form.
But if you do a few simple things, you can keep what signatures are left on the ball and slow down their fading. Keep your baseballs in a cool, dark place away from all sources of light.
How Do You Care For Signed Baseballs?
Keep the below instructions in mind and do accordingly to care for your signed baseballs.
- Look at the weather. When it gets too hot or humid, a signature can run. You shouldn’t store your ball in a place where the temperature is above 75 degrees or the humidity is above 50%.
- Put your baseball inside a case.
- Try to keep it out of the light.
- If you have a ball that has been signed, don’t put bleach near it.
- Don’t use a magic eraser near the signature either. A magic eraser is abrasive enough to wipe the signature off the ball.
How Can You Restore the Shine on a Vintage Ball
You found an old baseball in a secret box your grandfather kept. You need to clean it now. But be careful not to damage the surface of the ball. How do you do it?
Use bleach to clean the vintage baseballs. Mix together watered-down bleach and dish soap to make a solution. Half-fill a glass with warm water and add a little amount of mild dish soap.
Then add about a capful of normal household bleach and mix. Give your baseball a rinse in the solution and brush the surface up for some time. Dry the ball.
Why Does Major League Baseball Not Reuse Baseballs
Many factors contribute to MLB’s decision to never allow the re-use of baseballs. The balls might become dusty and scratched up during play, making it challenging to wash them afterward.
Also, after a while of use, the balls can start to come apart and lose their shape, which can change the game. Last but not least, MLB wants to standardize the ball used by all players. Otherwise, players using balls with varying qualities might throw the game off.
In Major League Baseball, balls that are discarded are not used again. Before being sold as collectibles in MLB shops, used baseballs are checked to make sure they are real.
Little League game balls are made of cork and also have wool windings on the surface and a leather core on the inside. So they are not very soft.
The MLB ball rule is in place to make sure that everyone plays fairly.
The MLB rule that pitchers and catchers have to change their balls after every game makes sure that batters have a fair chance to hit each pitch. Before being used in an MLB game, many baseballs are thrown into the practice barrel. A few baseballs are sold to collectibles as game-used balls.
MLB will preserve the ball for a player when they reach a milestone, like a home run or a strikeout. Once a baseball has been played, it can’t be used again. At the end of a game, lost, fan-owned, or recycled baseballs are dumped without thinking.
Mlb Ball Rule Is In Place To Ensure Fair Play
The MLB rule requiring pitchers and catchers to change their baseballs after each game ensures that hitters have a fair chance of success at every pitch. Many baseballs used in MLB games are thrown in the practice barrel before they are used, and a few are sold to collectors as game-used balls.
When a player reaches a milestone, such as a home run or a strikeout, MLB will keep the ball for them. Baseballs cannot be recycled after they have been played. Baseballs that are lost, in the hands of fans, or recycled into practice balls are discarded at the end of a game without any thought given to what they contain.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How Do You Sanitize Baseballs?
A player might want to use dish soap and water to clean the ball. This can be compared to washing your hands, but keep in mind that all soap residue must be rinsed away and drying times for each ball product can be different.
2. Can I Play With A Wet Baseball?
Throwing and hitting a heavier, wetter ball is dangerous and could hurt you. Even if you can dry the cover of a wet ball to the touch, the ball will still be too heavy to play with. When you’re done drying wet baseballs, put them in a separate pile and save them for exercises that don’t involve throwing, like a soft toss.
3. How Do You Remove Stains From Baseball?
Soak overnight in a solution of hydrogen peroxide, hot water, and Dawn dish soap. To remove the grease, spray it with Greased Lighting and scrub it with Fels-Naptha soap. Use a plastic brush to scrub the stained area.
4. How Do You Clean a Baseball Without Ruining It?
In a one-gallon container, put a tablespoon of mild dish soap. Soap the bucket’s insides by filling it with hot water and giving it a good whirl in the center. Remove dirt and stains from the whole ball by wiping it with a clean cloth for 30-60 seconds.
5. How Do You Clean a Baseball at Home?
A simple pencil eraser can remove most stains from white leather, including grass stains and scuffs. Using a small eraser, such as one on a pencil top, can help to clean up a small scuff or mark on a particular spot on the baseball. You can also use it to rub away dirt from the whole surface.
Wrapping Up
After reading this, you should be able to How To Clean Baseballs and choose the way of cleaning a baseball that works best for you. Each method works, but which one you use depends on how dirty your ball is.
A regular eraser can clean a ball that is just a little bit dirty or stained in no time at all.
A cleaner one might not need as strong of products as a dirty one. You can also use dish soap or laundry detergent.
The best method for my eye is bleach mixed with water.
On the other hand, if you have to clean a lot of very dirty baseballs all the time, you might want to buy a machine to do it.
This method is expensive, but it saves you a lot of work and is perfect for any dirty ball.
No matter what method you use, be careful with the threads, which can be easily pulled or broken. Besides that, be careful about autographs.
Now, practice hard with your favorite baseball. I want to see you play at the very top level. With a proper practice plan, you can achieve your dreams.
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How To Clean Baseballs?
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Hello everyone. My name is Jason Butler, and I live in California, America. I was a professional AAA Minor League Baseball player. I lost my chance of playing MLB for injury issues, but I did not lose my love for baseball. I attended the coaching training program and am now working as a coach in a small school in San Diego.
I always love to share my experience and knowledge if that can help you. Play baseball, and stay fit.