The "bleeder" was originally, I believe, a Columbia Yellow Dot, a soft polyester red ball that grabbed the lane much earlier than the traditional White Dot, in the 1970s. The bleeder came in the plastic bag and the inside of many of bags were soaked with what I assume was liquid plastic, oozing out of the ball. When pro shops opened these in front of the customer (I was such a "lucky" customer), the guy went "ooooh", "aaah", you got a "bleeder". The more plastic in the bag, the greater the grabbiness of the ball.

My luck was that my ball had bottom weight, which in these 3 piece core and in those days was death. Been spooked by bottom weight balls ever since. Just learning to ignore it in recent years ...



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"Those who do not remember history are doomed to repeat it."

So, literally....a bleeder ?!?
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JEFF
"How do you chop the 10 off the 6 ?!?!?!"

My Dad had a Shur-D Pro,...could mark it with your fingernail!!
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JEFF
"How do you chop the 10 off the 6 ?!?!?!"

Ah, but I think that I have seen the most unique bleeder ever. A buddy of mine a while back was cleaning out his locker at the end of a season, and I see this ball plop out of the locker that looked like it had never been removed from the locker. The ball looked like it had been coated in a layer of dust. Being really curious to see what he had been hiding in there, I went to look and ask what it was. To my surprise, the ball had never been punched, and my friend told me that it was a bleeder. I asked how long he had it in the locker since it looked like it was covered in dust and he informed me that it wasn't dust, but the ball bled DRY. I looked closely at the ball, and sure enough, the coloration on the ball wasn't a dust layer, but a layer of some kind of crust. On top of that, the ball had never been punched or anything.. Always wondered what he could get for that ball if he ever decided to sell it as some kind of collector's item