In baseball since 1876, the first year of the National League, there have been almost 20,000 Major League ballplayers. Hall of Famers, utility players, and those who spent enough time for a cup of coffee have made it to the Show. Some went on to coach, manage and even own teams. But what player in the history of baseball would supply mud?
Lena Blackburne played for a variety of teams between 1910 and 1929. He also coached for and managed the White Sox, St. Louis Browns, and the Philadelphia Athletics. He did not have a remarkable career and as a manager lost more games than won. But his major contribution to the game was mud.
Sometime in the 1930s, an umpire was complaining about the condition of the new baseballs. They were too shiny and slick even after the umpires would rub dirt and water from the playing field, or tobacco juice, or both. Sometimes this worked but a lot of the time the ball was left soft.
That’s when Lena Blackburn went back to New Jersey and the Delaware River to collect mud which he was able to create the perfect rubbing compound to take the shine off new baseballs. And by 1938, he was supplying the mud to all American League teams. He didn’t sell to the National League until the 1950s as he was a loyal American League fan.
Today it is still used by the majors and minor league teams. Although the Lean Blackburne Baseball Rubbing Mud had been used for decades, I did not verify it was being used at this time as I saw some discussions of its end.
An analysis of the rubbing mud by The New York Times revealed that more than 90 percent of the contents were fine ground quartz.
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