BALL, as an article of ammunition, see GUNNERY ; ORDNANCE' PROJECTILES ; SHOT.
In connection with sports and games the ball in various sizes has been in universal usage since ancient times. The Greeks re garded ball-games as of much value in adding grace to the figure and giving elasticity to the muscles of the body and the Romans also played a game of ball in connection with their baths for the same purpose. Several of the games then played resembled modern handball, football and polo. Modern tennis and rackets undoubtedly had their beginnings in the j cu of the Middle Ages and lacrosse was originally pla,yed by the North American In dians, though the historical data concerning these and other games are meagre and new customs and rules have so changed games that their true history cannot be told with exact ness. Of varieties of balls for use in the dif ferent sports there are many. The baseball
is made of a sphere of .rubber, ounces in weight, which is wound with yarn and cov ered with leather. The basket-ball is an in flated rubber ball, enclosed in leather and from 30 to 32 inches in diameter. The tennis ball is of rubber covered with white flannel, about inches in diameter and 2 ounces in weight. The lacrosse ball is made of india-rubber and is 8 or 9 inches in diameter. The polo ball is of wood and 4 or 5 inches in diameter. The football is a prolate spheroid in shape and consists of a rubber bladder encased in a leather cover. Billiard balls are of ivory and from 2-11/ to 21.7r inches in size. See BASE BALL ; FOOTBALL ; BASKETBALL ; LAWN TENNIS ; RACKETS ; CRICKET ; HANDBALL ; LACROSSE; POLO ; BILLIARDS ; Erc.