Baseballs for Cups and Balls

Legendary magician Michael Ammar developed and taught a creative cups and balls routine that became a model for a generation of magicians. He also published "The Complete Cups and Balls" book and DVDs, teaching the fundamentals of the routine, as well as useful tools and classic routines.
In his books, videos, and personal work, Ammar had used "Mike Rogers baseballs." These are handmade miniature baseballs, sized for use in the cups and balls. Many students learned the cups and balls from photos and videos of Ammar working with MR baseballs. Rogers made smaller balls for the main phases, and final load balls that were small enough to fit tennis ball sized cups. Long out of production, they now command collectors prices.
However, Rogers didn't account for time when he produced his final load balls. The cores he used were hollow rubber, and many owners report that they have degraded and deflated in as short a time as a few years.

As always, with Street Strong longevity as one of our values, this was eye opening revelation, and made decisions easier to make. When R&Ding cores for final load balls, there was the option of using lighter, cheaper hollow rubber balls. Knowing that people might be using them in 20 or 30 years meant entropy had to be accounted for, so we went with solid balls. The exotic leathers produce brand new balls that already appear aged-- like a spitball from a lively game a century ago. The robust construction and materials mean that it will look that way for many decades to come.