Help! I have an autographed football that is not holding air. Can you repair a football?

pswebauctions · January 11, 2008 5:32AM

I am sure I am going to get some interesting comments from the title but the question is legit.

I have an autographed football of Jim Taylor (HOF 1976) that appears to have popped a seam on the end. When I pump it up, I hear hissing coming out of that end and the ball will no longer inflate completely or hold the air.

Does any know how you can repair a football, if at all? The signature in not impacted. Does the fact that the ball will not hold air diminish the value?

Any help would be appreciated.

Paul

prscott933 · January 11, 2008 5:46AM

if you can get some of that tire sealer called Slime in there and let it harden over the hole it may work. i am not sure how it would effect the value. i would imagine in its deflated state it would sell for a little less than inflated, but i don't know how much.

Brian48 · January 11, 2008 5:47AM

I don't think so much that's its a matter of the ball not holding air, but rather the popped seam itself that might diminish the value (if that). I know when baseball are graded, both the autograph and the physical condition of the ball comes into play. A popped seam would obviously fall into the later category. In this case, repairing it may even diminish the value more than leaving it in it's unaltered state.

DrJ · January 11, 2008 5:48AM

<< <i>I am sure I am going to get some interesting comments from the title but the question is legit.

I have an autographed football of Jim Taylor (HOF 1976) that appears to have popped a seam on the end. When I pump it up, I hear hissing coming out of that end and the ball will no longer inflate completely or hold the air.

Does any know how you can repair a football, if at all? The signature in not impacted. Does the fact that the ball will not hold air diminish the value?

Any help would be appreciated.

Paul >>

I would imagine not holding air would greatly diminish value. Who wants to buy a deflated ball and put it on display. It might be time to make a custom patch card and cut up your ball.

Maybe try to find a patch kit at a sporting good store and then take the laces apart and fix the bladder (you may do irrepreable hard to the laces however, further diminishing value).

J

AlanAllen · January 11, 2008 6:35AM

Vintage footballs often have their bladders replaced. I imagine it's pretty difficult, but you can undo some stitching, turn thr leather inside out, replace the leaking bladder with an appropriately-sized one, and sew the ball back up. I own an 1890's Spalding melon ball that this was done on. There are comapnies that sell reproductions of old football gear that could probably help. I'm pretty sure one of them advertises in Gridiron Greats, but I don't have a copy handy to check.

Joe

pswebauctions · January 11, 2008 9:29AM

Thanks for all of the help so far. A couple points of clarification:

a.) The ball is not holding air. It still is holding it's shape because it is in one of those vertical ball holders - where the ball is standing on it's end. It does not look like pancake and is not totally deflated.
b.) There is no visible hole along the seam so when I say a seam popped, it means large enough to let the air out but not large enough that you go "Whoa - look at the hole in that ball".

Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

MeteoriteGuy · January 11, 2008 9:40AM

I like the ideal of cutting it make a making a custom card from it. Otherwise I think it would be easier to dump it on ebay, noting the condition, and buying one that is inflated.

I basically would not worry about fixing the ball as it does not have the value to worry about.

Clear Skies,
Mark

F1ferrari · January 11, 2008 9:52AM

I just Googled "repairing football bladder" and this is the first site that popped up. I figured there had to be a few places that worked on vintage sports equipment, but the cost would be the prohibitive part.

elsnorto · January 11, 2008 11:09AM

I have never used this guy's services, but I know he buys a ton of beat up footballs, repairs them, and resells them. You might want to ask him for some references or his portfolio if he has one first to make sure you are getting what you both expect and pay for.

Snorto~

justmichael · January 11, 2008 11:54AM

Fix-A-Flat.It works for tires.
Mike

storm888 · January 11, 2008 12:15PM

"I just Googled "repairing football bladder" and this is the first site that popped up."

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Yup.

I googled "football repair."

There are tons of places you can send a ball for "expert" repair.

Help! I have an autographed football that is not holding air. Can you repair a football?

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