Corkball History | Corkball Rules

The game of corkball generally means it’s played with either a cork that’s wrapped with tape (bat grip tape, masking tape, electrical tape, etc.) into a ball, or that actually uses one of the many professionally manufactured corkballs that have been produced by various sporting-goods companies over the years, of which there were once many, but now numbers just one in Markwort Sporting Goods of St. Louis. In other parts of the country, I’ve read accounts of corkball being played not with an actual manufactured corkball, wrapped and stitched leather like a mini-baseball, but with round corks being wrapped with tape.

The actual manufactured corkballs measure about 2″ across and weigh 1.6 oz. Foosball table cork balls measure about 1.38″ across, but when wrapped with tape can be a bit larger depending on the thickness of the tape and how many times it’s wrapped. There are other types of cork balls that one can use, too, such as those made for craft projects and sport balls. You can also find a lot of them for sale on Etsy.com.

It’s interesting to also note that some in St. Louis play what they call “corkball” but use tennis balls. That game is played on paved school playgrounds, again, just like fuzzball. They simply call the game corkball, I suppose, since that name has more of a history in St. Louis than fuzzball does. But that’s just my guess. I aim to dig in a little deeper to find out more. Meanwhile, watch this: