Our league is thinking about switching to the Baden Fire Senior Softball(synthetic cover) ball, any info about these, good or bad? Do they become mush when it gets warm out? Things like that. Thanks.

They are a decent ball. They do not get mushy. They are dangerous to fielders as they get used. The reason being is for some reason they hold dirt really well. I have seen some teams rub dirt into them so it is harder for the fielders to see the batted ball. Especially as the sun is starting to go down. If your league will let you hit the blue stitch balls, they tend to not retain the dirt as much and teams like the performance more than the red stitch balls.

There are much better options in the same price range. They are not a top end ball and become dangerous due to how dirty the covers get. No other ball on the market retains the dirty like the Baden Fire does. When they first came out there was talk that Baden knew of the issue and was working on resolving it but they haven't gotten better in any way shape or form.

Short Porch, Onyx Energy+ Worth Super Duper are all better options...

JohnO28 gave you a list of better balls. The Onyx Energy is a much better ball than the Baden Fire. It also stays clean throughout the game. BTW, it flies too.

Hey John and Bill ... Yesterday, U-Trip un-sanctioned (if that's the word), the Onyx Energy M and W balls as being "non-conforming" ... Someone sent us a copy of the official DECERTIFICATION NOTICE ... I'm guessing that means they can't be used in USSSA competition, or at least they couldn't yesterday ...

Dave, What was USSSA reasoning behind making the Onyx Energy ball non-conforming?

Despite one or two employees on here who will say the ball is "fine", everyone else will tell you it's not a great ball at all. It isn't complete crap but it's not a good ball. As everyone else will tell you there are much better options for basically the same money.

The ball gets dirty and is tough to see, I’ve asked Baden if they have any plans of changing the cover and they replied no. That’s what happens when you have a long term contract with a customer such as SSUSA.
This ball was researched by Senior softball and was supposed to be the best ball under all conditions. Clearly it is not but it is a money grab IMO

the ball gets dirty by the 2nd inning and makes it look old...it does not hit as far as Tattoo from other organizations and HR's are considerably lower in tourneys we use them....this is across the board in our 60s major division not just our team

John028:

The blue/black stitch Baden Fire ball used in FHC is DRAMATICALLY better than the red-stitch. It performs similarly to the Tatoo and it is similar in durability to the Tatoo. We've tried to find them for our league but are unable to purchase that ball. I spoke with the folks at FHC and they told me that ball is only available to FHC as far as they know?

SSSUSA knows darn well the ball is inferior. I spoke with them late in 2023 and was told Baden by the SSUSA tournament director that Baden was coming out with a newer, more durable ball in early 2024 (I believe this is the ball FHC uses as that ball came out at/about that time). SSUSA has dug in on the red-stitch ball and continues to double down on their claims it's a good ball and generally accosts anyone who says otherwise. bkb555 is absolutely correct on the HR totals with the red-stitch ball. Hard to argue with that metric as it's clearly measureable and our HR totals were also signifcantly lower in SSUSA tournaments compared to FHC and ISSA tournaments.

It's their association and their rules. ISSA and TPSSA are rapidly gaining ground in the east/south so we don't play SSUSA any more. Tired of the nonsense responses from SSUSA. Not to say ISSA and TPSSA don't have their own challenges, just easier to deal with than SSUSA at this time.

Dirkpitt,

I agree 100% and believe it was Dave Dowell himself who said that Baden knew of the issue and was going to address it moving forward. I could be wrong on that but it was definitely either Dave or whoever uses the SSUSA STAFF account. I don't have the time or desire to go back and search who it was that said it and honestly it's more than likely deleted by now anyhow. They love to delete comments on here that don't fit their agenda or disagree with them. But it's their page so it's their rules.

I do know that the contract with Baden is up after this year and the reason they signed with Baden to begin with was due to covid shortages and they were able to supply SSUSA with the quantity of the balls that they needed and others weren't able to as well.

I would like to know how many of the people that work for SSUSA that are always telling us how great the ball is actually still play softball and if they play other associations as well to be able to compare what everyone else has to offer. Because we play SSUSA, ISSA, NSA, PSA, TPSSA, One Nation, ISA and currently every other association uses a better all around ball. Just the simple fact alone that the Baden Fire becomes a safety issue after a few innings of use due to cover issues negates any advantage it might have on distance over any other ball. Hell even the Worth Super Dupers that we use in many SSUSA tourneys is a much better ball than the Baden Fire is.

I totally get SSUSA stance that they signed a contract with Baden to use through 2025 season and are standing behind their ball and even try to hype it but when the players who actually still play the game and play in other associations besides SSUSA all get on here and say the ball is an issue and don't rank it in their top 5 or even top 10 balls available in other associations that alone should tell them something.

Dave,

Yeah I think we all heard about the Onyx Energy M ball and Onyx issued a statement about it themselves and are looking into it. But nobody mentioned the Energy M ball in here we suggested the Energy+ ball which hasn't been "unsanctioned" or lost it's official sanctioning so it's still a better option than the Baden Fire based on saftey issues of the cover alone.

Being a Director up in NorCal and having used and hit the Onyx PROM and the Energy+ the ball was decertified as more than 1% were not passing compression and this was done at 2 different testing locations. The Energy+ ball has a little different core to it than the Energy ball take that for what its worth. The + was not USSSA approved at this time so we were not able to use it due to legal issues. Hopefully Elite/Onyx can get the ball updated and certified as it was a good ball, but much hotter than some at this time.

Get a hold of Rusty and buy the composite ball same as senior. They are as good as any legal ball out there

We use the Baden ball in our Senior League and it gets dirty and hard to see, not a good performing ball against others out there. The Dudley Hardcore is a great ball or the Onyx Energy Plus is great as well and doesn't get as dirty as the Baden. the Baden ball will be a safety hazard when we can't see it and take it off the head.