What started as a game of catch has turned into a Guinness World Record for one Alexandria man.

Michael Carmichael of Alexandria, Indiana, owns the world record for the largest ball of paint. He began adding layers of paint to a baseball after it landed in a can of paint during a game of catch with a friend. After 1,000 layers, Carmichael decided to start a new ball and keep track of how many layers of paint were on the ball. Thirty two years and more than 22,000 layers later, Carmichael is still making time to paint the world-famous ball daily.

“I like painting on the ball,” Carmichael said. “There are plenty of rollers for everybody.”

Carmichael encourages visitors to come and add layers of paint to the ball. It’s part of an ever-growing story which Carmichael never tires of telling.

“I don’t get sick of telling people the story,” Carmichael said. “In fact, I enjoy telling people about it.”

Birth of the Ball

Back in the 1960s, Carmichael and a friend were tossing a baseball around in a garage. The ball hit a can of paint and knocked it over, spilling paint all over the ball. After it dried, Carmichael decided to wrap the baseball in wire and dip it in a can of paint to see how many layers he could add. Although Carmichael stopped when he reached 1,000 layers, this original ball still exists today.

“It’s in a museum, and we have fun telling everyone about it,” Carmichael said.

On January 1, 1977, the world’s largest ball of paint was born when Carmichael’s three-year-old son painted the first layer of paint on a baseball. Since then, the ball has been moved three times as it outgrows each location. It has been in its current location for four years, and Carmichael said over 4,000 visitors have come to paint on the ball.

Paint by Numbers

In all, 20 different colors of paint have been used on the ball. Blue is the most popular color with over 2,700 layers, followed by green and yellow. Carmichael says it takes 10 minutes to paint a layer and another 10 to 15 minutes to dry. He still paints the ball daily, anywhere from one to five times a day.

“It depends on how I feel whether I want to keep on painting it all the time,” Carmichael said.

Carmichael also weighs the ball once or twice each year. To weigh it, Carmichael lowers the ball into a sandbox and puts hanging scale on it so he can tell the weight when he raises it back up. The last time Carmichael weighed the ball, it was 3,100 pounds.

Ball in the Family

After television exposure in the last seven years, Carmichael said people really started to take notice of the ball and come to Alexandria to see it.

“I feel like it’s a good thing for the public to do,” Carmichael said. “Years from now, they can always say that they painted it.”

However, Carmichael said his grandkids get the most enjoyment out of painting it.

“They can’t paint the whole thing themselves yet, but they like painting on it,” Carmichael said. He added that the he will eventually pass down the world’s largest ball of paint to them.