Is the big rock extinct?

In the home bar for the league I play in here in Baltimore we have a cue ball that is probably 1/4-1/2" larger in diameter than a normal cue ball. We usually use a red dot on league nights but sometimes someone forgets to bring it. Last week I played a lot of follow shots.
 
Some of you older players please correct me if I'm wrong on this but I never considered the mud ball to be a big ball. I considered the mud ball to be around the same size as a regular cue ball but much heavier.

I would discribe it as a ball that was never made to be white. It seemed to be a ball that was impregneted with metal to be able to be returned by magnets in the table. To me it felt like playing with a giant marble the size of a regular cue ball. This ball is very easy to recognize and I still see one once in a while.

I would never match up on a table that had this ball.

The big ball was very playable. I've seen some great players with the big ball. One of the best players with that ball was the connoisseur of cues Tracy Joe Salazar. And I know that he would never play with the mud ball. That's my opinion. Other thoughts please?
 
dabarbr said:
Some of you older players please correct me if I'm wrong on this but I never considered the mud ball to be a big ball. I considered the mud ball to be around the same size as a regular cue ball but much heavier.

I would discribe it as a ball that was never made to be white. It seemed to be a ball that was impregneted with metal to be able to be returned by magnets in the table. To me it felt like playing with a giant marble the size of a regular cue ball. This ball is very easy to recognize and I still see one once in a while.

I would never match up on a table that had this ball.

The big ball was very playable. I've seen some great players with the big ball. One of the best players with that ball was the connoisseur of cues Tracy Joe Salazar. And I know that he would never play with the mud ball. That's my opinion. Other thoughts please?
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As one of the "older" players, I have also identified the darker ball as the mud ball.

What the cue ball manufacturers did was try to improve on the ball that had the solid metal core. The problem with it was that the metal would shift after a few hundred breaks. After that the ball would roll off so bad that it had to be replaced. So they came up with the mud ball you speak of, which has the metal chopped up and distributed throughout the whole ball. That is what gives it the darker color. It turns out that it was no improvement at all because most players hate the thing. It just reacted very differently.

As for the big rock, it is simply larger than the other balls.
 
8ballEinstein said:
As one of the "older" players, I have also identified the darker ball as the mud ball.

What the cue ball manufacturers did was try to improve on the ball that had the solid metal core. The problem with it was that the metal would shift after a few hundred breaks. After that the ball would roll off so bad that it had to be replaced. So they came up with the mud ball you speak of, which has the metal chopped up and distributed throughout the whole ball. That is what gives it the darker color. It turns out that it was no improvement at all because most players hate the thing. It just reacted very differently.

As for the big rock, it is simply larger than the other balls.
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Thanks Ernie. I knew I wasn't crazy.
 
I remember the big rock as being really hard to control when you were drawing it. Once it got rolling it didn't like to stop. I also remember breaking into a cold sweat:eek: when the object ball was frozen to the rail. It was easier to make those shots coming in from a steeper angle and spinning the cue ball rail first. And yes mud ball and big ball are two different animals.
 
The Placerville 8-Ball League still plays at several Bars which still use the Huge, Heavy Cue Ball ... I played in that League for several years (never again) and those heavy cue balls would barely stop after a shot using tons of low english ... and forget about draw altogether ...

BTW - Placerville is located in Northern California and is better known as "Old Hangtown" ... Loud, obnoxious music and karaoke on League night ... just plain awful ...
 
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