Happened a couple weeks go.  Took a ball out of the car to move to my locker at the lanes, and it had a crack (or more descriptively, a slice) almost all the way around it. Always thought a "cracked" ball would have a jagged irregular break in it, but this was more like someone slicing open a tomato.

Was quite surprised as I had never had this happen to me before, and the ball was in a heated closet for the last year, then moved to the car for only a few hours. Temperature was in at least the low 30's, so not exactly extreme conditions or circumstances.

Only reason the tomato --- oops...  I mean the ball is still in one piece is cause the slice changes position by a few degrees as it circles the ball and its end is about 2-3 inches away from it's beginning.

Anyway, the ball is/was a Storm Secret Agent. I do have have plenty of other
equipment, but still used it occasionally, so my main regret is that this ball is so unusual in terms of it's specs, that there isn't much chance of replacing it (if I felt the need). I've accepted that it's gone and that's that, in terms of usage, but so far haven't been able to justify tossing it in the dumpster (or leaving it on the rack at the bowling alley, etc...).

Which brings me to the point (finally!) of this post.  Is there any kind of purpose or good cause or something or somebody that could benefit from this ball?  Whether it involves giving it to someone or some organization or finding a new role for it? 

I don't want it taking up space in my bowling closet, and yet placing it anywhere else in the home will draw the ire of my wife who has never been thrilled about the 25+ other balls spread among two closets. 

Also live in a Condo, so placing it in the garden as some kind of furniture or accessory isn't an option.  And despite this post, am considering just tossing it out with the trash.  Just figured I'd ask first, in case anyone has any ideas.

Thanks.

This guy makes jewelry from old bowling balls.  http://matt-cole.com/  I think he takes donations.

I've been told that people that raise hogs like old bowling balls to put in with the pigs.  The hogs like to roll them around.  --  JohnP

don't put a ball in a pond.  These balls cannot be safe for aquatic life.

i say take the cover and filler material off of the core, and hope someday there's a company that offers the ability to get a core re-covered.  in the mean time, the core might be quite an interesting shelf piece.... tell your wife it's art.

Have to agree with Jesse as far as it goes for decorative gardens. Relatives of the in-laws have been fighting over a few of my cracked bowling balls to be painted and decorated as ladybugs or bees for their gardens. They've made a fair number of them, and going off of a couple of sites, looks fairly easy:

http://www.gardenstew.com/about21020.html
http://www.freshhomeideas.com/fresh-home-blog/2011/04/diy-project-bowling-ball-bugs/

I'd rather give them a second life and make someone else happy instead of having it hauled off to a landfill..

BL.

You can cut it in half and use it as decorative garden fencing of sorts, or.......you can do like I do when a ball cracks with a  fairly clean break all the way around......have my pro shop driller do his magic and plug it up with a colored, quick drying plug mixture! Usually takes about a week to cure but then it's as good as new. Did this with my favorite Horizon Solid which cracked similarly. I got two more years of use out of it!

With the type of crack I think of going around a ball I doubt if this could be done. It would be evey labor intensive as you could only plug a small portion at a time and then have to resurface the ball to make it smooth again.

And if it was done I would think the circumference of the ball would increase to the point that it would not be legal, over 27 inches. 

good for target practice.