What is the weight of a baseball you ask? The truth of the matter is that there IS NO exact weight. What… are you serious?
That’s right, no matter whether you play Little League, High School, College or in the Major Leagues, there is no exact standard.
It only needs to weigh anywhere between 5-5.25 ounces.
Here’s the official MLB rule on the size and weight for a baseball:
“a major league baseball weighs between 5 and 5 1⁄4 ounces (142 and 149 g), and is 9 to 9 1⁄4 inches (229–235 mm) in circumference (2 7⁄8–3 in or 73–76 mm in diameter)”
You may not think that a quarter-ounce would make much of any difference when you’re playing, but it may explain why at various times the baseball just feels heavier than it does at other times.
Why is there such a variance in the weight regulation?
There are a lot of theories about this question, but since baseballs are all hand-stitched, MLB had to allow a small cushion for the weight in order for the balls to be more cost effective during manufacturing.
Rawlings continues to produce all MLB baseballs.
Weights Of Various Sports Balls
- Baseball 5-5.25 Ounces 142 Grams
- Softball 6.25-7 Ounces 177 Grams
- Cricket 5.5-5.75 Ounces 156 Grams
- Golfball 1.62 Ounces 46 Grams
- Pool Ball 5.5-6 Ounces 156 Ounces
- Pickelball 0.8 Ounces 23 Grams
- Croquet Ball 16 Ounces 453 Grams
- Table Tennis 0.1 Ounces 2.83 Grams
~ Fun Fact ~
Before being put into play on the field, every MLB baseball is hand rubbed with a special kind of mud. This Lena Blackburne Baseball Rubbing Mud is only found in a highly-secret location in the New Jersey city of Palmyra.
Sources
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/official_rules/official_rules.jsp