Lemon Aid

An uncommonly large crowd of 1,500 turned out last week to see a midweek college baseball game between Columbia and Fordham. What they had come see was a yellow ball--the first departure from the traditional white ball since the game was invented 99 years ago.

The lemon-colored ball was not a stunt to publicize college baseball, but a test case to prove that a yellow ball is easier to follow than a white ball, especially at the plate, where it tends to blend into the background of pitcher's shirt and bleacher crowd. Developed by a young color expert named Frederic Rahr, the yellow ball (a regulation National League ball dyed yellow all the way through) was proposed primarily as a safety device for batsmen. As a first step in a crusade to lessen frequency of perilous bean balls, Innovator Rahr persuaded Columbia's Coach Andy Coakley and Fordham's Coach Jack Coffey, both onetime big-leaguers who had had unpleasant experiences with bean balls during their careers, to give the yellow ball an official trial in last week's game.

After the game, which Columbia won 8-to-7, opinion on the yellow ball was divided. Batters unanimously agreed that it was easier to follow at the plate. Fielders were not so sure that it was an improvement. Umpires liked it.

Whether the major leagues, slow to change their customs, would adopt the new ball was problematical.

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