Orange Crush

On this date in 1973, orange baseballs — another pet project of Oakland A's owner Charlie Finley — are used in a spring training exhibition game between the A's and the Indians. The orange coloring is supposed to make it easier for players and fans to pick up on the flight of the ball, but players on both sides complain that the balls are too slippery, and that it's difficult to see the rotation on a pitch as it comes to the plate. The experiment is discontinued shortly thereafter, though Time magazine will use the orange balls as a background motif for their 1975 cover story on Finley...