A Little Baseball Experiment

How many times have you seen youngsters, and sometimes older ones, at games trying to get OMLB's signed with sharpies? It is a pet peeve of mine and I'm sure everyone has their own opinions on this subject. However, my issue with it is the quality and durability of the pens used on each specific media.

SO, I've decided to do a little experiment. Unfortunately, this may be drawn out a little based on the subjects involved. Please use my experiment as the guinea pig before you decide to have something autographed. Send me your suggestions on which pens to use and I will attempt to find them and use them.

I want to utilize the complete scientific method in this experiment so, first, their are the Questions:
What pens are the best to use for signings on OMLB's? How long will they last? For example, (The Sharpie, as most of us in the hobby know, should NEVER be used on a baseball..ANY baseball) What about having giveaway balls and logo balls signed? Why not get these signed?

Hypothesis:
I suppose that ball point pens are the best for signing baseballs. Brand, color and media will be in question. I will test all pens suggested for the experiment.

Prediction:
I believe that some pens will soak immediately into the ball and begin to fade out and most ball point pen brands will stand out on top of the ball.

Testing:
I have 2 donor baseballs that I had laying around. One is an Official California League Baseball. It is made with the same materials(white leather, red cotton laces) as the Official Major League Baseball. It already has some scribbling on it, as I was using it to test out pens before signings.(or how I got the idea for this)
The other ball is from a giveaway a few years ago from Banner Island Ballpark, Home of the Stockton Ports. It is the type of ball that has the imitation leather and green lacing. These balls you would not want to get autographed on anyway but I want to explain why.
I will take each pen and sign each ball with the brand it is, leaving room for further brand names.
Due to the time it takes for some inks to penetrate the ball, I am giving a generous amount of time to conduct this experiment. I am hoping that a full year will be enough time to prove my hypothesis.

My Analysis will come at the end of the year and we will see which pens held up the best and which pens we will never use again!

Please send me your ideas for pens to try and will make the attempt to get them and add them to the baseballs.