From the Dyno-Thane Soaker days:
The Soakers are balls that do not allow oil to affect the ball's performance for a MUCH longer period of time than the average coverstock and SIGNIFICANTLY longer than today's oil suckers.
If I recall correctly, 200 - 300 games is not unusual before Soakers need to have the oil removed and before they begin to show signs of performance reduction. Phil used to urge people to just wash the ball with soap and water from time to time.
The only negative was that most Soakers needed 25 or so games of use before they would "come alive". And roughing up the coverstock did not help at all. It was as if the cover needed to start absorbing oil as a primer before the Soaker would start hooking and hitting. Once they did, they hooked a good deal and strongly.
the bad part was that if you really liked your Soaker from the start, by the time you had 25 games on it, it was going to change and get much stronger.
Many people wondered about their balls UNTIL they got those 25 (20 - 30) games in.
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"None are so blind as those who will not see."