Big Balls!!! Did pool balls used to be Carom size?

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Magog30

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I was listening to an audio recording of Ralph Greenleaf's widow on ABR radio broadcast on March 13th and she suggested that he played straight pool on 5x10's (as most of us know) but also that they played with bigger balls. Anyone have any information on this?
 
This is interesting. With ivory balls, they would have to be trued up after so long. I suppose if conditions were perfect the timing could be lengthened but inevitable. Trueing makes them smaller. Therefore if you wanted maybe 2 or 4 turns then new balls needed to be oversize a bit. I'll assume that being Ralph and the other pros of the time they often played with new balls which would be larger.

This is all somewhat speculation. Maybe Mr. Bond has something to say.
 
Magog30 said:
I was listening to an audio recording of Ralph Greenleaf's widow on ABR radio broadcast on March 13th and she suggested that he played straight pool on 5x10's (as most of us know) but also that they played with bigger balls. Anyone have any information on this?
Click to expand...

Back into the late 1800s they sometimes played with balls as large as 2 1/2", but by the time that Greenleaf was on the scene ( and ivory use was starting to decline) the standard size ball commonly in use for pocket billiards was 2 5/16"

(From small to large = 2-1/4, 2-5/16, 2-3/8, 2-1/2)

In the 1923-24 season the standards agreed to for pocket billiard tournaments were as follows :

" all games shall be played with 2-5/16 Empire compo-ivory balls, upon a 5x10 Brunswick-Balke-Collender company table, with 4-1/2 inch pocket openings at the corners and 4-3/4 inch pocket openings on the side. Same shall be furnished with 1845 match cushions and Brunswick special imported tournament cloth. "

You may remember Greenleafs widow making reference to a " 45 cushion"...she was talking about the '1845 match cushion'
 
Might not seem that tough with an inch of room on either side of the ball, but I believe she was right about the pocket cut width being the same from front to back. That combined with a decent sized shelf would spit out many a ball.
 
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How much for a few yards of some #1 simonis cloth?

Straight cut pockets is more likely to jaw the ball rather than spit it out...but a lot rides on the facing hardness and compound miter..
The wood slate shelfs could be modified- shortened or lengthened very easily, the wood workers in those days spot the wood workers to day the last four,the breaks and 8 on the wire going to nine...
Just havin fun'



Rob.M
 
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