A pile-surfaced toy ball is made by affixing to the exterior of a hollow rubber ball, such as a tennis ball, the inner end portions of stubs in closely spaced relationship by hotmelt, and when the hotmelt has set, the outer end portions of the stubs which can be of twisted strand rope or slit film in roll form can be fluffed by tumbling or combing to provide a dense pile surface. A tail such as of twisted strand rope can be attached to the ball during its manufacture by inserting in the core of the ball a knot on the end of the tail by movement through a slit in the core ball spread apart to enable the knot to pass into the interior of the ball by movement transversely of the length of the tail.