To me,over time they've all had good,or even great equipmenta ball or balls you and everyone just HAD to have.Think about it
The ball of the 70's was the Columbia Yellow Dot Bleeder.Everyone threw it.The pros loved it,and many of them actually started cover adjustments but doing many tricks that few know about.Included in that list were runnign the ball under a cold water faucet to delay the reaction on dry or burnt lanes.Another trick was to have a bottle of liquid furniture polish in your bag.Again,too dry of a lane and you'd simply pull out the polish,a spare rag,and your ball wouldn't even wrinkle.
The early 80's was dominated by the Johnny Petraglia LT-48.A great ball in the heavier oil paterns of the day,especially sanded with 320 grit sandpaper.I threw my first honor score with it,a 700 plus series.
The later 80's saw the introduction of the Black and Blue Hammer balls,and the Angle series by AMF.The Gold Angle was the ugly mustard yellow ball that hit like nothing else in it's time.Personally,I raised my average 22 pins in one year because that ball carried the world.
Then came resin balls in the very late 80's and early 90's.That's when the fun really started.The Turbo from Ebonite,I believe if I'm wrong I apologize.A great control ball that got many people into resin equipment.
My personal favorite was the Teal Rhino Pro.Drilled 3 3/8th by 3 3/8th,it was a strong ball that recovered from anywhere I threw it.Several honor scores came from that ball before someone stole it
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After that,I went with whatever was the best ball out there.Any companyit didn't matter to me.Today,that's the same philosophy I have.Right now,there's a Cell solid,an Infinte One,an original One,a TNV,an NVS,a U-Pearl and a spare ball for ten pins.
I could see rating balls by their decade,timing or appearance in the bowling world,but to rate them as an "all time" list isn't appropriate,IMHO,because many younger bowlers will never have thrown on older oil patterns and never will get to throw the older equipment.Their opinions,while definitely valuable,are limited to their experience with the newer balls released within the last few years.
