Well well..

With Hammer putting out that "cryptic" video Tuesday about a new ball coming, few of us thought to hit up the USBC Approved Ball list to see if anything was coming.. And apparently, The Black Pearl Urethane Hammer was added that very day. Normally I'd think that it would be something overseas, but apparently there was a staff email that came out about it.

Good news is that it definitely is coming out. It is going to be 78U (which matches the conversation here about if the NU was going to be the response to the 78U hardness rule as well as their response to the IQ Tour 78/U, and also since Faball had balls that hard if BoB could put out something similar). Specs for this are still unknown, except that it is supposed to be around 4 and 2 less than the Purple Pearl Urethane.

Bad news: limited supply, so they are asking that only staff who are PBA members purchase them now, as more will be made after the new year (to get them to staff before the new rule takes effect, plus TV coverage, etc.). It won't be available to the public until mid-March.

Funny news: They are asking that those staff members not post or mention this ball on Social media.. which is hilarious, as they kinda posted about it themselves, and the ball approved list has to be public knowledge.

Anyway, we know that this is coming, so it will be interesting to see what comes of this.

BL.

I also think about it this way: The PBA really put Hammer into a lurch, as well as could have possibly forced the USBC's hand.

Why? Simply put: The PBA rule and the Black Pearl Hammer coming up will mean that Hammer could/would undercut their own sales of the Purple Hammer. As the Purple Hammer won't be on tour anymore, the Black Pearl will get all of the TV exposure, so it will come down to hardness for the league bowler: softer with the Purple, or harder and newer with the Black Pearl.

That's good for giving two different urethane products for Hammer, but bad that it could also force the USBC to update the hardness rule for Urethane up to 78D so that no urethane under that can be used at the USBC level (impacting Storm, Motiv, and others). At this point, the Black Pearl (when it's released) will force the Purple Hammer out of the market.

Finally, this puts us back to 30 years ago: Urethane being "king" again, with the NU Blue Hammer being the equivalent of the Ebonite Turbo/X, X-Calibur, and Purple Rhino Pro. The question is: will the bowlers adjust, or will we have more whining about Urethane being used than we had before, which led us to this state to begin with?

BL.

Saw one in person today…

How did it look? From what I read from the staff email, it's supposed to be about 4 and 2 weaker than the Purple Pearl Urethane. I can live with that, but I'm also thinking shelf appeal.

BL.