Today's Tidbit ... White, Yellow, and Striped Footballs

Two weeks ago, I published a Tidbit regarding variations in the striping of footballs when they first appeared in night games in the late 1940s and early 1950s. But, of course, there is always more to the story, and I can now expand this Show & Tell based on a recent acquisition, the 1949 MacGregor GoldSmith Fall and Winter catalog.

I bought the catalog online, so I was unsure of all its contents and was pleased to see the first page of products featured their top-of-the-line football, the M5G Intercollegiate model.

Even better, the catalog offered the Night Football versions of the M5G. Catalog recipients could order the tan leather football with two white one-inch stripes on either side of the ball. (They did not offer a one-stripe version of this tan ball, though they did for other models.)

Teams could order the same ball in white or yellow leather with one or two black stripes. The single stripe and the inner stripe were closer to the ball's center, so they overlapped the laces.

It is worth noting that the tan ball with two white stripes costs more than the white or yellow ball with two black stripes. Also, the white and yellow balls with one stripe cost more than the same ball with two stripes. Why their pricing model worked that was is beyond me.

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