Baseball Rubbing Mud
Encyclopedia
Lena Blackburne
Russell Aubrey "Lena" Blackburne was an American baseball infielder, manager, coach and scout in Major League Baseball.-Biography:...
Baseball Rubbing Mud is mud
Mud
Mud is a mixture of water and some combination of soil, silt, and clay. Ancient mud deposits harden over geological time to form sedimentary rock such as shale or mudstone . When geological deposits of mud are formed in estuaries the resultant layers are termed bay muds...
used to allow pitcher
Pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throwsthe baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the...
s better control and a firmer grip over the balls used in the sport of baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
.
History
Before Baseball Rubbing Mud, baseballs were rubbed in a mixture of waterWater
Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...
and infield dirt
Dirt
Dirt is unclean matter, especially when in contact with a person's clothes, skin or possessions when they are said to become dirty. Common types of dirt include:* dust — a general powder of organic or mineral matter...
, but this method usually discolored the ball's leather
Leather
Leather is a durable and flexible material created via the tanning of putrescible animal rawhide and skin, primarily cattlehide. It can be produced through different manufacturing processes, ranging from cottage industry to heavy industry.-Forms:...
surface. Other alternatives at the time were tobacco juice
Tobacco water
Tobacco water or tobacco dust juice is a traditional organic insecticide used in domestic gardening. In The English Physician Enlarged of 1681, Nicholas Culpeper recommends tobacco juice to kill lice on children's heads, referencing it as an insecticide poison...
, shoe polish
Shoe polish
Shoe polish , usually a waxy paste or a cream, is a consumer product used to polish, shine, waterproof, and restore the appearance of leather shoes or boots, thereby extending the footwear's life...
, and dirt from under stadium bleacher
Bleacher
Bleachers is an American term used to describe the raised, tiered rows of seats found at sports fields or at other spectator events...
s. They were able to successfully take off the sheen from baseballs, but at the same time, they also damaged and scratched a ball's leather. While Lena Blackburne
Lena Blackburne
Russell Aubrey "Lena" Blackburne was an American baseball infielder, manager, coach and scout in Major League Baseball.-Biography:...
was a third-base coach
Coach (baseball)
In baseball, a number of coaches assist in the smooth functioning of a team. They are assistants to the manager, or head coach, who determines the lineup and decides how to substitute players during the game...
for the Philadelphia Athletics baseball team, an umpire
Umpire (baseball)
In baseball, the umpire is the person charged with officiating the game, including beginning and ending the game, enforcing the rules of the game and the grounds, making judgment calls on plays, and handling the disciplinary actions. The term is often shortened to the colloquial form ump...
complained to him about the method used at the time, prompting Blackburne to set out in search of better mud to use to rub against baseballs in 1938. Later that decade, Blackburne discovered the rubbing mud's location (said to be 'near' Palmyra
Palmyra, New Jersey
Palmyra is a Borough in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2000 United States Census, the borough population was 7,091.Palmyra was originally incorporated as a township by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 19, 1894, from portions of Cinnaminson Township and Riverton...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
) and founded the company that he used to sell it. According to the company, the entire American League
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
used the mud soon after its discovery, and by the 1950s, it was in use by every major league team, along with some minor league and college teams.
Usage
The mud originates from a secret location on the New JerseyNew Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
side of the Delaware River
Delaware River
The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...
; only the company's current owner, Jim Bintliff, knows the location. The mud is cleaned and screened, and a secret ingredient is added to it before sale. Each year, Bintliff visits the mud's source, and returns with 1,000 pounds of it to store over the winter, until he sells it the following baseball season. Before all major-
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
and minor-league baseball
Minor league baseball
Minor league baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues in the Americas that compete at levels below Major League Baseball and provide opportunities for player development. All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses...
games, an umpire rubs six or more dozen balls with the Baseball Rubbing Mud to give them a rougher surface, making them easier for pitchers to grip (MLB Rule 3.01c). The rubbing mud's unique feature is that it is "very fine, like thick chocolate pudding", and it has been considered the "perfect baseball-rubbing mud".