That is actually a backup cue Willie had, and according to interviews back in his day, one he did not use.
Here is the original
Request with a Prrize Balabushkas
- Thread starter deanoc
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That is actually a backup cue Willie had, and according to interviews back in his day, one he did not use.
Here is the original
If you wanted to know anything about this cue, I think you'd have to check with Charlie Ursitti, as he had it pictured in Pool and Billiards magazine, March 2011, where the above picture came from. And I seriously doubt that it's for sale.
Agree, one hell of a cue. The cue that I saw him play with in 1982 in Atlantic City was a leather-wrapped version of the cue pictured below, pictured in the famous Snap issue. As Joe indicates above, these stars we speak of actually played with a few cues, and it would be interesting to know the timelines more accurately for each.
Attachments
My Balabushkas
Can be seen at these older threads:
http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=266771&highlight=balabushka
http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=270430&highlight=balabushka
Can be seen at these older threads:
http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=266771&highlight=balabushka
http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=270430&highlight=balabushka
George made the cue I posted in the late 1960s for Irving, and according to the letter from Irving with the Adams reproduction, it was the cue he used up into his later years of competition, and of course his personal favorite cue. Though he had 5 or so made by George, and played with them all occasionally. I have about 6 photos of Irving in competition and all of them were with the cue I posted. And of course he loved leather wraps.
When you did smooth leather like George did ANYONE would love leather... Many try but very few can do it even close to him let alone as good...
here is a unique and a beautiful Balabushka that Mike from Omega used to have.. i took these pics of it in Vegas before he sold it..
chris
chris
Anyone have better pics of the Crane Bushka mentioned above?
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Sometimes I have to laugh at myself when I see some of these old cues, that we admire now. We think, "Wow, these play incredible!"
I have told this story before but I still shake my head. The top local player in my hometown, who is about 60 or so now, told me this story as he knew I really liked cues. He is an old time pool player that plays or played all games well. He went to New York and played in the New York State Championships. For some reason, I am thinking this was in the early 1970's.
At the time this pool player had just got one of Vikings "Super Joint" cues. Strange joint and I attached a picture I found of it. When this player got to the tournament and the players saw it, they went crazy for it, and he was offered at least (2) different Balabushka for this Viking cue with the super joint.
He told them, "What do you think I am stupid? I am not trading my new Viking for any of those cues."
The second story is one Rick Howard told me. He said that Szamboti cues were kinda like money. Okay, I said how is that. He said when he was winning quite a bit gambling he would get offered Gus cues for $400 each. He would buy them up, and then we he was running low, he would sell them for around $400 each. He didn't make much, but they were easy to buy and sell and made it easy as they could be used to play as well as easy, quick money if he needed it. (Verses about most other cues at the time). I asked him how many did he own over the years and he said too many to count.
Before you shake your head, these are not much different than 1960's and 1970's muscle cars. You could buy a loaded L88 vette, or Camaro, Charger, Mustang for nearly nothing and sell them now for $75K+.
That makes those folks that talk about expensive cues and say, "It's just a cue it doesn't make you a better player..." etc. But don't see an issue with someone buying 1969 Camaro for $70K.
People crack me up. I have had tons of folks tell me at one time they had either a Balabushka or Szamboti. Most said they played good, but they didn't think they played so good they had to keep it.
The 1969 Z/28 is just a car, and Balabushka is just a cue.
Ken
I have told this story before but I still shake my head. The top local player in my hometown, who is about 60 or so now, told me this story as he knew I really liked cues. He is an old time pool player that plays or played all games well. He went to New York and played in the New York State Championships. For some reason, I am thinking this was in the early 1970's.
At the time this pool player had just got one of Vikings "Super Joint" cues. Strange joint and I attached a picture I found of it. When this player got to the tournament and the players saw it, they went crazy for it, and he was offered at least (2) different Balabushka for this Viking cue with the super joint.
He told them, "What do you think I am stupid? I am not trading my new Viking for any of those cues."
The second story is one Rick Howard told me. He said that Szamboti cues were kinda like money. Okay, I said how is that. He said when he was winning quite a bit gambling he would get offered Gus cues for $400 each. He would buy them up, and then we he was running low, he would sell them for around $400 each. He didn't make much, but they were easy to buy and sell and made it easy as they could be used to play as well as easy, quick money if he needed it. (Verses about most other cues at the time). I asked him how many did he own over the years and he said too many to count.
Before you shake your head, these are not much different than 1960's and 1970's muscle cars. You could buy a loaded L88 vette, or Camaro, Charger, Mustang for nearly nothing and sell them now for $75K+.
That makes those folks that talk about expensive cues and say, "It's just a cue it doesn't make you a better player..." etc. But don't see an issue with someone buying 1969 Camaro for $70K.
People crack me up. I have had tons of folks tell me at one time they had either a Balabushka or Szamboti. Most said they played good, but they didn't think they played so good they had to keep it.
The 1969 Z/28 is just a car, and Balabushka is just a cue.
Ken
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