Orange Dot was indeed a Columbia. Not sure it was a hybrid material, but it was also a dog. Mag 11 sounds right on the Orange ball Earl threw. The blue polyester Roto was made by Columbia, and was just a blue yellow dot according to a Columbia staffer at the time. However, the quality control was a bit better, than on the yellow dot runs. Also the Roto Grips had very had top weights, and the label was actually off set so that a label drill would yield positive side weight. Thus the reason they were stamped for right handers or left handers. The label was offset for each to have positive side weight. Manufacturers were trying a lot of material in shells about that time. The problem was that nothing worked as good as the real soft polyester that had been limited to a 72 hardness ( 75 on tour ) in 1977. The result of that rule was that it was hard to find anything much under 80, which was worthless on the carry down that was so predominant on the early generation epoxy urethane lane surfaces.
This bit of history may seem like pure trivia 35 years later, but it was the inability of lane men to put out a playable shot for the medium hardness polyester balls that led to an epidemic of lane blocking. While their was plenty of lane blocking going on even prior to 1970, the best bowlers weren't clamoring for walled conditions. Even more important, most of us felt that we could develop a better game on higher scoring conditions in those days.
