Dr. James Moores Ball was born on September 4, 1862, in West Union, Fayette County, Iowa.

He obtained his medical degree from Iowa State University in 1884 and pursued further post-graduate studies in New York and Europe. From 1894 to 1910, he served as the Professor of Ophthalmology at the St. Louis College of Physicians and Surgeons. Following this, he assumed the roles of Dean and Professor of Ophthalmology at the American Medical College. Dr. Ball was an esteemed member of the St. Louis Medical Society and had a keen interest in medical history, which is evident through his extensive collection of books, anatomical specimens, drawings, casts, and ophthalmic instruments. In 1920, he donated his collection of ophthalmic instruments to the Army Medical Museum (now the National Museum of Health & Medicine). His book collection was presented to the St. Louis Medical Society in 1928, forming the basis of the Society’s rare book holdings. Subsequently, in 1989, the Society transferred the Ball collection to the Bernard Becker Medical Library. A prolific author, Dr. Ball contributed significantly to the fields of medicine and history, with notable works such as "Andreas Vesalius, the reformer of anatomy" (1910), "Modern Ophthalmology" (published in six editions between 1904 and 1927), and "The Sack-em’ Up Men" (1928), a study of the practice of body snatching.

He died on March 1, 1929, in St. Louis City, Missouri.