0306 - William Peebles
William Peebles is the owner, founder, and craftsman of Huntington Base Ball Co. and a historian of the evolution of the baseball. During our conversation, he referenced a handful of things and people upon which you may want to do more research. Consider this page to be your “liner notes” for the episode so you can follow along.
Me and William Peebles after recording our interview in his workshop near Boston.
Love Of The Game Auctions
This episode is brought to you by Love Of The Game Auctions.
CLICK HERE to view their Spring 2024 Premier Auction catalog
Huntington Base Ball Co.
Every ball William ships out from Huntington Base Ball Co. comes wrapped in tissue and foil, and is housed in a custom box, the same way baseballs were shipped 100 years ago.
Baseball meets research meets craftsmanship.
Boston Braves
One of William’s neighbors growing up was the former bat boy for the Boston Braves, and caddied for Babe Ruth.
The Boston Braves played at Braves Field. In 1953, Boston University purchased the stadium, demolishing most of it except for the right field stands and a long building that originally housed the ticket and executive offices. The stadium is now known as Nickerson Field.
Fan From An Early Age
William’s first Red Sox game was July 26, 1987 against the Seattle Mariners. The Red Sox won 11-1, with both Dwight Evans and Wade Boggs hitting home runs that day.
Like any good collector and historian, of course, William still has his tickets from that game.
Opening Day 1995
William skipped school to attend the Red Sox' Opening Day game on April 26, 1995 vs. the Minnesota Twins.
José Canseco signed a program for William that day, as the Red Sox won 9-0, with Canseco going 2-4 with 2 RBI and a run scored.
Reebok
William had an internship with Reebok in the late 1990s and worked on color designs of shoes. At the time, some of Reebok’s biggest athletes were Frank Thomas, Roger Clemens, Allen Iverson, Shaquille O’Neal, and Shawn Kemp.
Smithsonian Magazine
When William saw a vintage base ball player on the cover of the October, 1998 issue of Smithsonian Magazine, it caught his attention.
National Baseball Hall of Fame
The National Baseball Hall of Fame has a vast archive of old baseballs and old baseball equipment. William spent lots of time taking precise measurements and detailed notes so he could accurately recreate the patterns which produced those old artifacts.
Some of the old base balls William had laid out from his personal collection during our interview.
William’s trained eye can immediately spot the differences in these two baseballs.
Inside Base Ball
This is a cross section of a Harvey Ross base ball, circa 1850s.
Patent Drawings
Studying the original patent submission drawings can help someone understand exactly how to recreate an old baseball exactly the way the original makers would have done it.
Fingerless Gloves
An 1880 fingerless glove.
(Milo Stewart, Jr. / National Baseball Hall of Fame)
Uncrate
When Uncrate featured Huntington Base Ball Co. on their website in May of 2010, William’s business was exposed to millions of potential customers. At that point, it was off to the races.
Boston American Base Ball Co.
This drawing was the original concept for William’s company which eventually became Huntington Base Ball Co.
Huntington Avenue Grounds
When the Boston Red Sox were founded as charter members of the American League and known as the Boston Americans, the team needed a new ballpark to call home. A location along Huntington and Rogers Avenues in the Roxbury section of Boston was selected to construct a $35,000 ballpark. A small 9,000 seat facility constructed primarily of wood was built here and opened on May 8, 1901 when Boston battled the Philadelphia Athletics.
A Craftsman
“A nod to the past with our eyes on the present.”
Pennants
It’s not just baseballs that William makes. He also creates hand-sewn pennants, whose quality is unmatched.
More Inside Base Ball
1875 rubber-covered seamless ball inside
Earliest Base Balls
Bat and ball games have been around for centuries, but the first balls to be manufactured specifically for the purpose of playing the sport of base ball seem to have been created in the late 1840s-1850s.
This four piece cover ball is from circa 1845 to early 1850s.
Cloth Balls
Cloth balls pre-dated leather, but those balls were created with multiple purposes in mind, not necessarily solely to be used to play base ball.
This is an example of a cloth homemade ball from circa 1830-1850.
Trophy Balls
In the early days of baseball, it was customary for the winning team to keep the game ball as a trophy. It would often be decoratively painted with the final score of the game, the teams who played, and the date to commemorate the occasion.
In the early days of the sport, it was not the pitcher’s job to try to strike out a batter. His main purpose was to serve a ball to the batter to give the batter a chance to put the ball in play. To that end, pitching was actually done underhanded for years.
Ray Chapman
The death of Ray Chapman was a pivotal moment in baseball history, causing players, teams, and leagues to take a hard look at how the game balls were being treated in the name of player safety.
Doc Adams
Daniel Lucius “Doc” Adams was a member of the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club. He invented the position of Shortstop, but he was also one of the earliest base ball makers. He started making four-piece leather covers using a method he learned from a Scotch saddler.
CLICK HERE to listen to our previous episode of My Baseball History with Doc’s great-granddaughter, Marjorie Adams.
One Piece Cover Ball
The earliest baseballs were very lightweight and soft, were smaller than the modern baseball, and were made of yarn or string surrounding a core covered by a single piece of leather stitched together.
Dark leather was usually used for the cover because it was readily available and easier for the players to see when the ball was hit in the air on a clear day.
“Lemon Peel Base Ball”
This is the same ball pictured above, just the opposite side where the stitches all meet.
They called this a "lemon peel" or "rose pedal", and it consisted of four sides sewn together to form an "X".
The Ross Ball Template
As William mentioned, you can imagine the amount of waste when making a ball using this pattern.
Louis Mahn
Louis Mahn perfected the manufacture of a good “standard” baseball. Mahn’s standardized ball was developed under a March 21, 1872 patent that he bought from a John Osgood. The ball was built in two hemispherical sections and sewn together with an interlocking double herringbone stitch in a figure eight loop so that if one stitch broke, the whole ball didn’t unravel.
Marjorie Adams
I was lucky enough to sit down with Marjorie Adams in October of 2020 to talk about her great-grandfather, Daniel Lucius “Doc” Adams.
Marjorie passed away July 7, 2021, without being able to see Doc inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
You can listen to Episode 2 of Season 2 of My Baseball History to hear our conversation HERE.
1858 Laws Of Base Ball
In March of 1858, 25 clubs met in New York to form the National Association of Base Ball Players. A set of rules was agreed upon, published, and made available to teams.
For the first time ever, the ball’s size, weight, and materials were specified. The core was to be composed of India rubber, but by failing to specify how much rubber could be used, the Association left open the possibility that teams would choose baseballs whose liveliness fit their own style of play.
Trophy Balls
Why did we let this tradition die?!
William’s Trophy Ball
Trophy balls are incredibly hard to find, and when you do, they’re often very expensive. William is lucky enough to have this example from 1870 in his personal collection.
Henry Alden’s 1868 Ball
In 1868, Henry A. Alden of New York, patented an "Improvement in India-Rubber Base-Balls," a further improvement to his 1867 patent. The inventor stated that this ball was more durable than ordinary balls.
The center of the ball was made of cork but rather than the ordinary leather covering, the inventor proposed an outer covering of rubber and the stitching was imitated by raised rubber stitching, to prevent slipping of the ball when used.
Harrison Harwood
Harrison Harwood was President of the Natick & Cochituate Street Railway Company in Massachusetts.
In 1858, he established The Harwood & Sons baseball factory of Natick, which was the first baseball manufacturing facility in the USA. This location started making Harwood Baseballs in 1858 (before Spalding and Reach), and remained in operation for 117 years.
The First Patent
Henry A. Alden’s 1868 ball was the first base ball to be awarded a patent in U.S. history.
Red Ball
Cricket used a red ball, so in about 1870, base ball tried to use a red ball, too.
“Endless Seam” Base Ball
1868 introduced us to the figure-eight style ball that eventually became the standard.
Figure-Eight Pattern
On top of making the ball’s seams stronger and more durable, cutting the leather in this pattern allows for so much more of the leather to be used, and results in much less waste.
Less Waste
This photo is a great visualization of how using the figure eight pattern creates far less waste than the previous methods.
Ellis Drake
It has been written that Ellis Drake was the inventor of the two-piece figure-eight stitched baseball cover.
Drake was born in 1839, in Stoughton, Massachusetts and was the son of a shoemaker. He is said to have sketched the design for the two-piece cover in school in the 1840's and made a prototype from his father's scrap leather.
He stated that the lemon peel balls used at school where "round ball" was played came apart on the four corners and caused the ball not to be true when thrown.
Giblin Ball
John Giblin’s 1875 rubber-covered seamless ball
Reach Seamless Ball
Reach took Giblin’s concept and began mass-producing it.
Official National League Baseball
In 1876, the first A.G. Spalding & Brothers sporting goods store opened in Chicago.
That same year, Spalding developed the first Major League Baseball to become the official baseball of the National League (1876-1976) and American League (1889-1973).
A. G. Spalding
Albert Goodwill Spalding had three careers and was very successful at all of them.
He was a pitcher and then executive in the early years of professional baseball, and then became the co-founder of A.G. Spalding sporting goods company.
In the 1880s, he took players on the first world tour of baseball. With William Hulbert, Spalding organized the National League.
He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939.
Wright, Howland, & Mahn
Harry Wright, George Howland and Louis Mahn were partners in a baseball retail store on Washington Street at the corner of Kneeland Street in Boston. Known as Wright, Howland, & Mahn, sellers of baseball goods, they continued in 1878 to ‘79. They moved to 765 Washington Street in 1880 and ‘81.
In 1881, with the Red Stockings fading, Harry and George Wright moved to Providence, Rhode Island, where they co-managed the Providence Grays.
Louis Mahn was still manufacturing baseballs all the way up through 1883 and ‘84.
A. J. Reach
Alfred James Reach played baseball before the Civil War as a teenager for the Brooklyn Eckfords. He is believed to be the first player paid to play the game.
Starting in 1865, Reach reportedly received $25 per week to play. Six years later he joined the Philadelphia Athletics of the National Association. After a five-year playing career in the NA, Reach founded the Philadelphia Phillies. He became the first team president of the Philadelphia Phillies as part owner.
He went on to become an influential publisher, sporting goods manufacturer, and spokesman for the sport. He was the founder and owner of the AJ Reach Co.
Official American League Baseball
Reach baseballs became the official ball of the newly-formed American League in 1901, and the company continued to produce the league’s balls until 1974.
In addition to 20 different types of baseballs, the company made catcher’s masks, mitts and chest protectors; fielder’s and boxing gloves; punching bags; and footballs.
The Shibes
To transfer the Athletics’ ownership to local interests, Connie Mack approached Benjamin F. Shibe in December 1900 about investing in the club.
Shibe, who was a partner at A. J. Reach & Company, had a long association with sports and readily understood the marketing potential a second major league would offer in selling the Reach Company’s products.
The deal was made all the sweeter for Shibe by Mack’s offer to make the A. J. Reach baseball the official ball of the American League.
1883 Plastic Cement Core Base Ball
With this ball, Benjamin Shibe solved the problem that John Giblin couldn’t.
Melot’s 1883 Seamless Leather Cover Ball
Without seams, throwing curveballs and other trick pitches became much harder.
Shibe’s 1889 Double Seam Ball
Though it was a more durable baseball, the extra stitching made it much harder to manufacture, and also much more expensive.
A Fan For A Fan
The baseball background used in these wonderful souvenirs is actually the Shibe Double Seam ball.
Stitching Baseballs By Hand
Often done by women, and sometimes even done at their home.
Men Stitching
Men stitched baseballs, as well.
Men Stitching
Does the man stitching this baseball look familiar to you?
Stitching
I don’t think there were normally this many supervisors watching an employee stitch a baseball.
Winding Baseballs
Women usually wound the different layers of string and yarn around the ball’s core because it was a job that wasn’t as physically taxing as stitching.
More Winding
The machines made it faster and easier to get a consistent, tight product.
Stamping
When the baseballs were finished, they were stamped with the appropriate logos and markings before being boxed.
Dies
Imagine how much easier it is to get accurate holes punched when you use a die, instead of doing everything by hand.
Thread Length
Making sure the length you pull for the threads is accurate is important. Screwing it up is a mistake you only make once.
Tools and Tooling
Having the proper equipment and tools makes every job faster, easier, and more consistent. Which then also makes them more profitable since there are less mistakes and you can turn out the products quicker.
Federal League
The stitch colors of the baseballs used by the Federal League were teal and orange.
American League
The stitch colors of the baseballs used by the American League were red and blue.
National League
The stitch colors of the baseballs used by the National League were red and black.
Modern Colors
When you order a baseball from William and Huntington Base Ball Co., you can either stick with traditional stitch colors, or choose from any number of modern colors which were never previously used, or even available.
Cork Center Ball
Shibe’s idea to use cork in the center led to far greater consistency and much better performance.
String
Look how tightly that string is wound around the core inside that baseball.
What’s Inside A Modern Baseball?
The various components of a deconstructed baseball, as compared to an intact ball.
Mudless Baseball
MLB has been experimenting - for better (or bettor) or for worse - with what exactly can be done to manipulate the balls being used on the field today.
This prototype from Spring Training 2019 used leather which had been impregnated with a chemical to make the ball tacky right out of the box, with no need to rub mud on it.
WWII Baseballs
Due to rationing of rubber during WWII, baseballs were made with kind of a mish mosh of materials. As such, the performance of the balls during that time suffered, as did hitting statistics.
MLB Buys Rawlings
When the league owns the manufacturing company, it becomes much easier to hide changes being made to the ball. Changes the league claims they aren’t making.
Home Run Rates
Dr. Meredith Wills has been studying baseballs for years, tracking which balls are being used in games during the season, during playoff games, or during marquee matchups on nationally televised games.
From a study of baseballs used during the 2022 MLB season done by Dr. Meredith Wills.
Start the video at 2:36 to see the first moon shot, and jump to 4:31 to see the second.
Start the video at 0:52 to see the hit we’re talking about.
1970 5X Center Ball
This ball reacted so hot off the bat that the league determined it was unsafe to use during game play.
Functional Art Pieces
While William actually uses the baseballs he makes, he knows most people who buys his products buy them to display them.
Orlando Cepeda
One of William’s favorite commissions he’s ever worked on, this baseball for Orlando Cepeda used different colored strings to represent the different teams the First Baseman played for during his Hall of Fame career.
Working Away
William may be isolated in his shop, but the work he does is fulfilling and being his own boss is a dream.
Gloves
When William started Huntington Base Ball Co. he thought his clients would be high end collectors who wanted to own affordable versions of the priceless artifacts they were after.
William’s Signature
William signs every single box that goes out the door. After all, doesn’t an artist sign his paintings?
George W. Bush
In 2014, William was asked to make baseballs for the gift shop at the George W. Bush Presidential Library.
Clemente Museum
William has also supplied baseballs for the Clemente Museum in Pittsburgh. If you’ve never been, that’s a trip absolutely worth making.
Paul Reiferson
Paul Reiferson is a photography connoisseur who spent decades amassing the most complete Charles Conlon collection ever privately assembled.
He also has an unbelievable collection of baseballs. These liner notes are filled with many photos of the baseballs in his collection.
You can listen to Episode 5 of Season 3 of My Baseball History to hear our conversation HERE.
William’s Federal League Ball
Stitched and designed exactly like the original baseballs used during the 1914 and 1915 seasons in the Federal League, William’s version has slightly different stamping so they won’t be confused with the real artifacts, which sell for thousands of dollars. That’s how historically accurate William has been able to get with his recreations thanks to his research and skill.
Bats
It’s not just baseballs and gloves and pennants that William makes. He also makes bats!
William’s workshop
Shibe Park
My mom and I at the site of Shibe Park in Philadelphia during October of 2020.
Boston Trip
“A walk in the park” is certainly one way to describe this trip during spring break of 1998. It’s not the way that I would choose to describe it, but it’s certainly one way to.
Vintage Style Gloves
William’s gloves are used by vintage base ball players.
Patent Tags
Patent tags from John Giblin’s rubber-covered seamless ball, pictured earlier. Patent No. 165994 was issued on July 27th, 1875.
Mitchell & Ness
In 1904, former tennis and wrestling champ Frank P. Mitchell and Scottish golfer Charles M. Ness set the future of authentic in motion when they met up in Philadelphia to establish Mitchell & Ness Sporting Goods.
At first, they specialized in stringing tennis racquets, constructing custom-made golf clubs and making uniforms for local Philly baseball and football teams.
You can listen to Episode 3 of Season 3 of My Baseball History to hear my conversation with former owner Peter Capolino HERE.
Harvey Ross
Harvey Ross was one of the first famous producers of the base ball. Ross was a sail maker by trade, but, as a member of the Atlantic Club in Brooklyn, started making base balls for his team. He made the balls in his home on Park Avenue in New York City, and they became so popular that he eventually sold them all over the country.
John Van Horn
John Van Horn was a member of the Union Club, of Morrisania, New York. He had a little boot and shoe store on Second Avenue in New York City where he would make his base balls.
His legendary "lively ball" earned Van Horn the reputation of being the "greatest ball maker of the nineteenth century."
He and Harvey Ross turned out the best base balls for some years, and they were used in nearly all of the match games that were played up to the early 1870s.
CLICK HERE to read A Chronology of Ballmaking up to 1872 – and a list of 32 Ballmakers, 1858 to 1890
Dr. James Naismith
It’s easy for basketball fans to point directly to the singular person who invented their favorite sport.
Dr. James Naismith was faced with the challenge of creating a new indoor game to keep his students at the International YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts, active during the winter months.
He wrote the original basketball rule book and founded the University of Kansas basketball program, and is an unquestioned legend.
For baseball fans, it’s not quite as simple to name the people who started their favorite sport or developed the equipment. Unfortunately, even the names many people do know weren’t actually involved in the sport’s creation.
My mom and I at the 2014 vintage base ball game at the Ty Cobb Museum in Royston, Georgia. Between us is Allison Kate Jackson, great-great-great niece of Shoeless Joe Jackson.
Dark Base Balls
Imagine being an outfielder, trying to pick up this dark colored baseball with the wooded background behind the batter. It was a nightmare until the ball got above the treeline and had the (hopefully) clear blue sky behind it. But line drives or ground balls were often misplayed because a fielder just couldn’t see the ball early enough to properly react to it.
Tools Of The Trade
It’s no wonder William’s right forearm is crazy strong. Try cutting leather with a pair of scissors.
The Reach Factory
Thanks to the technological advancements of Benjamin Shibe, by 1883, the Reach factory was making 1.3 million baseballs and 100,000 bats per year.
This is a photo of Eddie Collins, Connie Mack, and Ty Cobb taking a factory tour in 1927.
Benjamin Shibe
Ben Shibe is credited with the invention of the automated stitching machinery to make standardized baseballs. It was his business savvy that helped turn a nascent game at his birth into a multi-million dollar enterprise by his death. Shibe Park in Philadelphia was named in his honor from 1909 to 1954.
Ben’s son, Tom, was a co-owner of the Philadelphia Athletics and succeeded his father as team President upon his death in 1922. Tom’s brother, John, then served as Vice-president.
When Tom Shibe passed away, John succeeded him as club President, but illness would force him to resign within a few months and he died the following year.
Sell Out Crowds
When there weren’t enough seats inside the gates at Columbia Park, fans would sit on the roofs of the row homes across the street so they could still watch.
CLICK HERE to read the article we keep referencing using Dr. Meredith Wills’ research
Field of Dreams Game
I was at the game between the White Sox and Yankees at the Field of Dreams Movie Site on August 12, 2021. Tim Anderson’s walk-off home run into the corn was one of the most exciting sports moments I’ve ever witnessed in person.
To think it may have been aided by a juiced baseball kind of taints the entire experience.
MLB Authenticated Game Used Memorabilia
MLB wouldn’t let players or teams send Dr. Meredith Wills game used baseballs because they didn’t want her outing their shadiness.
But hey, if you want to buy some game used baseballs, bidding starts at $10 HERE…
William Working In His Shop
When I got to William’s shop to record the interview, I spent the first 20 minutes or so just watching him work. It was so inspiring watching someone be so clearly in their element.
Decor
Everyone should be so lucky to have a space in their home that looks like this.
Leather Coasters
These things are really, really cool in person. They look great, they feel great, and they smell great.
Cepeda Ball
Here’s another view of the custom baseball William made for Orlando Cepeda.
The Pitch That Killed
Mike Sowell's brilliant account of the events of 1920--meticulously researched and mellifluously written--captures all the intensity of the moment of the Chapman beaning and the entire incredible season. Only a writer of Sowell's power and skill could do justice to such a tale, and the result is one of the most highly respected and widely acclaimed baseball books ever written.
This book is a must-read.
Lights At Wrigley
When the first scheduled night game at Wrigley Field was rained out on 8/8/88, many people took it as a sign from above that there just shouldn’t be lights at the historic park.
You can listen to Episode 6 of Season 1 of My Baseball History to hear my conversation with Wrigley Field’s Official Historian Brian Bernardoni HERE.
Love Of The Game Auctions
Operations Manager Andrew Aronstein mans the LOTG booth at the 2023 National Sports Card Convention in Chicago.
Magic Lantern Slides
Available in their Spring Premier Auction which closes March 30, 2024, the Frank W. Smith Glass Lantern Slide Collection includes 57 unique slides, mostly featuring the 1914 Cleveland Naps.
Read Andrew’s article about the discovery HERE.
Joe Jackson’s Slide
It may not be Charles Conlon’s shot of Ty Cobb, but this image captured by Frank W. Smith is easily the most dynamic action photo ever taken of Shoeless Joe Jackson.
There’s a reason LOTG made it the image they used on the cover for THIS AUCTION.
Record Breaking Photo
This photo of Shoeless Joe Jackson, also taken by Frank W. Smith, sold through a Christie’s auction in October of 2021. It is said to be autographed by Joe, which would make it the only known signed photo of Joe to exist. Because of that possibility, it broke the record for most expensive signed sports photo of all time, selling for $1.47 million.
As someone who has seen numerous examples of Joe’s signature on legal documents which are absolutely assured to be signed by Joe’s hand, I have very serious doubts that the signature on this photo was created by Joe.
1963 Topps Sandy Koufax card
The large and colorful borders at the bottom of the 1963 Topps card set are extremely susceptible to chipping and wear. Because of that, finding high grade examples of cards from this set is more difficult (and, therefore, more expensive) than most other Topps sets from that era.
If you have a copy of this card you want to send to me because you love me or love the podcast so much, I wouldn’t mind that at all.
Want A Free Baseball?
If you want the chance to win a free baseball from William Peebles and Huntington Base Ball Co., all you have to do is follow each of our accounts on twitter, and then retweet the pinned tweet at the top of the MBH profile. We’ll pick a winner and they’ll get a baseball shipped to them for free!
Many of the photos used in these liner notes are courtesy of the Paul Reiferson Collection. We can’t thank him enough for his generosity.