I was having quite a bit of play on the axle of my 85 Sequoia and I thought I had actually broken it. I refurbished it a few weeks ago cleaned relubed and put new bearings in.
Well I took it apart and the axle ,cups and cones looked good so I put it back together.There is a fine line in tightening it that I can't seem to achieve
If I tighten it to where there is no play in the axle the axle is quite stiff to turn by hand. If I loosen it up a bit to where it turns a little bit easier I have
a small amount of play in the axle.. I refurbished all 4 of my other vintage bikes and had no trouble adjusting the tightness and none of them have any play
at all in the axle.

-----

loose balls or retainers?

one possibility might be a faulty ball

as an experiment you could repack with all new balls, making sure you have eleven per side, and see if there is a difference...

another thing you could do is to face the shell

with symptoms of this sort i like to do the easy straightforward stuff first. if that resolves it you are done. if it does not then one needs to vector deeper...


-----

No chance that you have a bearing cage backward is there?

I'll have to double check I put the cage in so the open end faces the cup but I think there are different cages that go in differently. Maybe I'll try putting in the bearings without the cages.

Also check the cups closely a crack in one of the cups can cause the described issues.

I encountered this Campagnolo BB that orients the caged bearings opposite that typical arrangement. Frustrating, then a delight when the bearings were correctly installed.

Check the threads and seat on the right side too. If the right side is not seated correctly, you'll never get it adjusted correctly.

Problem finally fixed. I took the bearings out of the cages and put them in loose and it worked like a charm.
Was very easy to adjust and no axle play.

Literally the first time that I took apart a hub (age six, while fixing a flat by myself for the first time, and with curiosity getting the better of me), I reinstalled the cages backwards.
That's my oldest memory of making a mechanical mistake. I've since taken apart many an old bike having the same assembly error.

The symptom was just as the OP described, and which I attributed to faulty parts at the time.

Years later, preparing the same bike for sale to a neighbor (repainting fully-stripped frame), I discovered my error. I had readjusted the bearings a few times over the years, and by this time the bearing cages were, shall I say, "well worn"!

Here's me on that hard-ridden old bike, the front hub no doubt still grinding, but not too long before I sold it:

Congratulations!

Did you add another bearing?

No I really didn't see enough room to add another bearing

His borrom bracket retainers already use 11, not 9, as shown in his other started thread.

You mean this thread?The ones that came out have 11 1/4 in bearings in them. Are you a smart ass on anyone else's posts or just mine?

No, this one you started a day later where you show a photo of the retainer:

Caged bottom bracket bearing direction.

I count 11 not 9.