Man Sets World Record As Painted Baseball Reaches 25,000 Layers
When Mike Carmichael began painting a baseball with his son in 1977, he never thought that he would still be doing it four decades later or that he would have set a world record. That is exactly what happened though, with the giant ball now measuring a staggering 14 feet across thanks to 25,000 layers of paint that have been slapped onto it.
66-year-old Carmichael only started the project a weird thing to do with his 3-year-old son to pass the time. The painted ball though has become a life-long obsession that attracts thousands of visitors every year. People come from all around the United States to his home in Indianapolis to add to the 5,000-pound ball. It has even had high profile guests such as Tom Green and the Oak Ridge Boys contributing to it.
“I was always doing something weird, so I wanted something different to do,” said the soft-spoken, self-employed painter. “We had no idea it was going to get this big, this popular or this heavy.”
Despite the fact that the world record is unlikely to be broken any time soon, Carmichael is still planning to keep painting the ball. The heavy duty chains and hooks that hold it in place can hold as much as 11,000 pounds, so the 66-year-old sees no reason to not continue.
