Good morning Uni Watchers, and a Happy Humpday!
Today we have a very special article from long-time reader/contributor/pal Leo Strawn, Jr., whose piece today is actually something he’d been working on for some time, but was spurred into completing it after reading a post of mine last week (I’ll let him more fully explain). But it’s a really good, really in-depth look at how football used special balls for night games back in the days of poor lighting.
Leo…take it away!
Before There Was Monday Night Football
by Leo Strawn, Jr.
I’m Leo…welcome to my world!
I’ve been an Australian Rules football fan for a couple of decades. One of the things that caught my eye right off the bat was the fact that there are two different colored footballs used in AFL matches. Yellow is always used for night games, while day matches can feature either yellow or red.
I’ve “collected” sports photos online for a lot of years, usually for uniform-related reasons, but somewhere along the way I also started collecting photos of white and yellow (gridiron) footballs, which were used for night games like a yellow Sherrin is in AFL (though white or yellow footballs were not used for day games here, as far as I can determine). I was going through these pics in early August and beginning prep work for this article when Phil happened to run an article on left-handed footballs, which contained an ad for night footballs. Call it irony, synchronicity or simply coincidence, but it seemed to me that the time was right to finish putting this together and share what I’ve found with UWers.
There was certainly a need for something to make the game easier to see, both for fans and players, thus the creation of night footballs. This article mentions the football from the 1892 Mansfield game, stating it was “much larger and rounder than today’s football”, but doesn’t mention the color of the ball. However, it might have been similar to this Victor “suede melon” football (featuring metal grommets, found here), which also was manufactured/used sometime in the early 1890s.
The first NFL game played under the lights was played on November 6, 1929, at Kinsley Park Stadium in Providence, R.I., between the Steam Roller and the Chicago Cardinals. According to this Sports Illustrated article, a white football was used. (Side note: Within that article is a photo of the Browns’ first regular season NFL game, played under lights in Philadelphia on September 16, 1950, with the legendary Mac Speedie catching a white football.)
The earliest photo I have discovered of a white football being used in a game was on the night of September 1, 1937, at Soldier Field in Chicago, featuring Sammy Baugh (carrying the ball) for the College All-Stars v Green Bay.
While I’m certain there were occasionally NCAA games played at night from the 1930s-50s (or perhaps even earlier), the only college photos I have seen with night footballs were the CASG featuring the previous season’s College All-Stars vs. the reigning NFL champions. Following are two of those with the great Charley Trippi, first playing for the All-Stars in 1945, then for the Chicago Cardinals against the All-Stars in 1948.
Night footballs were used in high school games played under lights, as well. This photo is from a 1940s game at Houston. One of the squads is St. Thomas H.S. Eagles. I assume, since this is in Texas (as well as from the limited number of players in the photo), this was a six-man football contest.
This photo, from the New York Daily News on April 12, 1940, shows Dodgers coach Jock Sutherland holding what looks to be a yellow ball, which is slightly darker than the ball held by Giants coach Steve Owen. Notice how the close the stripes on both are to the center of the footballs.
Thorp (Wilson) Sporting Goods manufactured the official NFL ball, “The Duke”, and as seen here (both with Bert Bell signatures), they made night footballs in white and yellow, though a yellow football in NFL/NCAA game photos is a rarer find.
But the NFL wasn’t the only pro league in that era. The AAFC must have made it a habit to feature night games when competing for fans with the NFL.
Here are a few AAFC photos I’ve saved; one from a 1947 contest between the Yankees and Rockets at Soldier Field, one of Elroy Hirsch carrying the night ball for the Rockets vs. the Browns (also at Soldier Field) and one from a 1949 game in Baltimore, which, judging by the darkness of the ball against the LA Dons player’s jersey, indicates a yellow ball.
And, as always, there is the CFL, or more accurately before 1958, IRFU/WIFU. Canadians may have used yellow more than white at night. This first pic is from a 1950 magazine article and looks like a yellow football. The second is a WIFU matchup between the Green Riders and Edmonton in which the ball also looks yellow.
The use of white and yellow footballs for night games seems to have trailed off about this time. The latest photos I have date to 1955. Here are a couple from that year; Cleveland great Otto Graham in a preseason game and Pittsburgh vs. Chicago Cardinals in week 1 of that season.
If you have photos or additional info, please share!
Until next time…
Cheers!
OK readers, what say you?
Great stuff, Leo. Wish they would bring back white or yellow footballs for night games. Wish they would bring back night games. In open stadiums, under the stars.
On Guess the Scoreboard i’m fairly certain thats the night Pujols hit his 700th career home run. Can’t be sure though as that was on Apple TV and no one saw it.
Great article Leo! Those vintage in-action photos are awesome.
GTGFTU: October 13, 1968, Shea Stadium, New York; Broncos 21, Jets 13. The only time the Broncos wore orange pants against the Jets in their Namath-era uniforms.
Are you sure that is Shea? I don’t recall ever seeing blue cladding on the stands in 1968.
I don’t know the date or any other details, but those unis are easy on the eyes!
What a good looking color shot!
Nice work, Leo. Very interesting. I enjoyed that.
Elroy “Crazy Legs” Hirsch!
Great research Leo! Who knew a night game was possible in 1892?
Leo, great article! I think Paul wrote something about the night/white footballs a few years back as well.
AND… OMG do I love that photo of the Broncos v Jets from yesteryear. Both unis are great, and my preferred look for both teams.
Both teams never looked better!
Thanks for the article, Leo. So many great things in it. The white footballs remind me of the old rubber-coated one I used to have.
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Bring back the Providence Steam Roller!
That picture of Otto Graham spinning into the endzone, he is FOR SURE wearing an orange jersey! Look at the light jersey vs the dark numbers. GUD says the Browns wore orange with Brown numbers during the ’54 and ’55 Preseasons
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Oh absolutely!
Probably a decade ago, I actually colorized (badly) that photo. Found one (not mine) that shows the shot with colorization:
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Fun article Leo! Thanks for digging up all those pics. I drive past the St Thomas campus here in Houston quite often. They are still a power among private schools here and statewide.
Forgive a dumb question, but HOW were the balls white (or yellow).
Were they painted – it seems like the paint would chip off and also be slippery. Were they dyed or tanned white?
NOT a dumb question!
I don’t recall finding anything that stated how they were made, but the Sports Illustrated linked article in my piece says, “Players complained that it was slippery and hard to distinguish from white uniforms.”
That would lead me to believe they were painted, much like Charlie Finley’s experimental baseballs. Some pitchers who threw them in the two 1973 spring training games in which they were used had similar complaints about the orange Finley baseball being too slick.
After prepping my piece containing a bit of info on yellow and orange baseballs, I discovered that the Finley orange baseballs were “tanned and dyed by Spalding”, which did lead the pitchers to complain that the balls were too slippery, so perhaps the white and yellow footballs were made similarly.
Would be a pretty awesome event to use a white or yellow ball for a night game when teams are wearing throwbacks.
Nice job. I’m kind of surprised that baseball didn’t go to yellow balls, at least for night and indoor games. I’m old enough to remember when tennis went to yellow in 1972. They said it was better for TV viewing. It took Wimbledon until 1986 to switch from white. I have a friend that usually plays with colored balls when we play golf together, and I can say that I like it since it makes it easier to find his ball, and also differentiate his ball from mine.
“I’m kind of surprised that baseball didn’t go to yellow balls…”
I have a kind of ‘odds and ends’ article I told Phil I’d send him over the next week or so that has info and a colorized photo I found about a yellow baseball used in an MLB game. Also, Charlie Finley got permission from the MLB owners to try out his orange baseballs for a couple of A’s spring training games in 1973. I have linked info on those games in that upcoming article and one of them is a link to a newspaper story from the second of the two games that includes a black and white game photo, but it unfortunately it doesn’t show the orange ball.
Great stuff Leo! The comedic aspects of having a pole in the middle of play are just rich.
GTGFTS: 23 Sept. 2022, Dodgers get destroyed by the Cardinals 11-0
On GTGBTU I am going with Oct 13, 1968 at Shea, #23 Drake Garrett didn’t play in 1969. My father had the honor of being cut by the Broncos twice and the Jets.
Thanks to everyone for the comments!
GTGBTU – Garrett did play in 1970, but the Broncos didn’t play the Jets that year. And even if he did play in 1969, the Jets/Broncos played at Mile High, with the Jets in White and the Broncos in Orange. It was the second of 3 losses that year for the Jets on the way to being SBIII Champs.
Latecomer: Loved the article, Leo. This topic’s been on my mind recently!
Update to reply to RICKAZ:
After prepping my piece containing a bit of info on yellow and orange baseballs, I discovered that the Finley orange baseballs were “tanned and dyed by Spalding”, which did lead the pitchers to complain that the balls were too slippery, so perhaps the white and yellow footballs were made similarly.