So as Luke has made mention in the past as I believe other have also, once drilled stress points are added increasing the chance of cracking during storage. Could one assume that a plugged ball is safer for long term storage than if drilled, maybe close to as if NIB?

I ask as I have a chance to buy some single drilled equipment that I don't anticipate drilling now due to duplicates, but they are discontinued so I'm tempted.

I have yet to have a plugged ball crack to where it is unusable. I’ve had some of the plug material chip and crack once it has been drilled after time,  therefore I just replugged them, and drill again. Only had unplugged balls crack all the way thru, and around the ball to the point of being unusable. Vg nano pearl, critical theory to name a couple of my favorites that cracked on me. Store them with boxes in the plastic bag the new balls come, and they will have less chance of cracking according to hank boomershine. Don’t leave them on carpet unboxed,  or on wood racks for extended periods of time.

I have over 300 900 global balls NIB  from over the years and ive only had 1 crack on me   there more likely NOT to crack if there in there box and in a plastic bag   trust me  this does save the balls from cracking