Why are most bowling balls multi-colored, or "swirled"?

[bowl1820]

Anyone know the first colored bowling ball ever made and the first pro bowler to throw a colored/non-black ball??? Interesting trivia!

My guess...I 'think' all balls prior to 1956 were black. And the first pro bowling event I remember seeing on the internet where colored bowling balls were used was 1968. HOWEVER....telecasts before that were in black and white...so harder to tell. I imagine some of the balls used prior to 1968 may have been colored and just appeared balck. So I'll guess 1958 for first time used by a pro and I'll guess Dick Weber.

Seeing that the ABC approved the plastic balls in 1950 there more than likely have been some kind of balls colored other than black before 56 (maybe not in wide spread use or swirled multi colored ones.)

Now of course it would take time before they came into wide spread use which would be in the 60's. that's when Columbia started pumping out the polyester columbia 300

According to Don Johnson, Him, Don McCune and Don Helling were the only PBA tour players to use plastic ball for several years.

They looked at plastic balls back then , like we look resin balls today. Don Johnson talked about how they snapped into the pocket (which shows how much lane conditions have changed ) and Glenn Allison made the comment back then that plastic carried more garbage hits than rubber.

Don McCune in the early 70's worked with Chuck Hamilton, who invented the "soaker" when they were trying to make the balls softer so they hooked more. So plastic balls were in wide spread use by then.

[MICHAEL]

I could give a fat fart how it looks rolling down the lane. I'm interested in how it looks falling off the back of the pindeck after knocking over all 10 pins.

How would you KNOW what that look, LOOKS like!!! LOL FAT FART,,, coming from you,,,, Mr. HOT AIR!!! LOL

[MICHAEL]

Balls with a multi colored swirls, are for a fact obviously much,, MUCH easier to see the 3 transections, skid, hook, and roll! I might be old, but I do have the eye sight of a 20 year old with vision problems!

I can clearly see any swirled ball especially with huge contrast colors, like my marauder madness bluish and yellow, go through the stages to the pocket,,, where as a solid ball is almost impossible for mere mortals to see, without night vision glasses!

[Aslan]

How would you KNOW what that look, LOOKS like!!! LOL FAT FART,,, coming from you,,,, Mr. HOT AIR!!! LOL

He must have thought I said "Old Fart" and had to chime in. LOL

@Bowl1820: I agree. I know plastic balls of varying colors were around sometime between 1950 and 1956…I'm just not sure how widespread it was. As for the PRO level, I just don't recall seeing the pros throw anything but black until the late 60s. But, as I said…it's hard to research because until the late 60s, TV coverage was black and white so if they were throwing dark green or even blue…you wouldn't know it. I researched it using old advertisements because print was in color.

[Big Merl]

I personally prefer solid color balls, I think they just look better.

[rico]

There are only so many colors which can be used for one-color bowling balls....with mixing three or four colors in one ball, it makes it easier to diversify appearances of bowling balls for as many as are on the market today....agree with Mike's comment that multi-color bowling balls makes it possible to observe the ball rolling and transitioning in the mid-lane easier than a solid color ball.....