Charles Finley Orange Baseball Official Prototype, Oakland Athletics, Circa 1973

Description

The box remains unopened in near-mint
condition
. The baseball is inside and presumed in the same condition.
This is a vintage Official Charles O. Finley
Orange
Baseball, the brainchild of Oakland Athletics owner Charlie Finley. The orange baseball was used in the A's 11–5 exhibition loss to the Indians. The maverick owner Charlie Finley efforts to introduce a bright
orange
baseball that Charlie thought might put some pizazz into the stuffy ole national pastime. The A’s owner unveiled his masterpiece in 1970, using it in spring training when Bowie Kuhn balked at letting him try it in a regular-season ball game. The baseball is regulation size, and indicates right on the sweet spot that it’s an Official Charles O. Finley baseball. The ball never caught on at the big league level. A great piece of historic baseball memorabilia.
The
Orange
Baseball had two principal advantages over conventional white baseballs: (1) fans could follow the flight of an orange ball more easily than a white ball, especially when hit to the outfield, and (2) the batter could more easily see an
orange
ball being delivered at a speed of 90-100 miles per hour out of the normally white background of a pitcher's uniform. In exhibition games, fans reacted in an overwhelmingly positive manner to the
Orange
Baseball. Umpires also attested to the benefits of the
Orange
Baseball, stating that the ball was not only easier to see from behind the plate, but gave rise to a greater number of hits and fewer fielding errors in exhibition games in which the
orange
baseball was used.