In the early years of the sport, only one ball was typically used in each game, unless it was too damaged to be usable; balls hit into the stands were retrieved by team employees in order to be put back in play, as is still done today in most other sports.
U ranim godinama sporta, samo je jedna loptica obično korištena u svakoj utakmici, osim ako je bila previše oštećena za korištenje; loptice koje su završile u tribinama su kupili zaposlenici momčadi kako bi se vratile nazad u igru, što se i danas radi u većini drugih sportova.