The place where the mud is found, and the elements used in the mixture are a well kept company secret. Lena Blackbourne's Rubbing Mud has been used since 1938, and is still used today in Major League Baseball. There is even a can of this mud on display at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. The mud is found in New Jersey.
Mud obtained from the Delaware River and its tributaries. Click on the 'Baseball Rubbing Mud' to go to the website of the company to supplies the mud, called Lena blackburne Baseball Rubbing Mud.
Lena Blackbourne's Rubbing MudThe baseballs get rubbed down before the game. A special mud is rubbed into the baseballs before the game by the umpires to take away the shine on the ball. The mud comes from a river in New Jersey, by a company started by Lena Blackburne. The place where the mud is found, and the elements used in the mixture are a well kept company secret. Lena Blackbourne's Rubbing Mud has been used since 1938, and is still used today in Major League Baseball.
Click on the 'Lena Blackburne' link on this page to go to the Lena Blackburne Baseball Rubbing Mud website. Follow the links there to see their products.
No. The umpires do all the rubbing so that neither team can cheat. They rub about five dozen baseballs with Lena Blackburne Baseball Rubbing Mud before each game. When a baseball is new, it is slick and hard to control. The mud makes the surface a little rougher and easier for the pitcher to handle.
The baseballs are rubbed down by the umpires to take the sheen off the ball . Lena Blackbourne's Rubbing Mud has been used since 1938, and is still used today in Major League Baseball. There is even a can of this mud on display at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. The place where the mud is found in New Jersey is still a well kept secret.
The mud originates from a secret location on the New Jersey side of the Delaware River. Only the company's current owner, Jim Blintiff (a descendant of Blackburne), is privy to the information.The mud is cleaned and screened, and a secret ingredient is added to it before sale. Each year, Blintiff visits the mud's secret location, and returns with 1,000 pounds of it to store over the winter, until he sells it the following baseball season. Before all major and minor league 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. 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"
From http://www.voorhees.k12.nj.us/osage/fourth/LARSEN/JKIDS/LENA.HTM: LENA BLACKBOURNE'S RUBBING MUD by: Mrs. Larsen, courtesy of the New Jersey Historical Society Since 1938, Major League Baseball has been relying on a natural resource found only in New Jersey. At that time, an outfielder for the Cincinnati Reds named Russell Lena Blackbourne came to New Jersey looking for a certain kind of mud. Blackbourne had visited many streams to dig up mud, which he then rubbed on new baseballs to make them easier to grip. Blackbourne found a stream near Willingboro, New Jersey that had a certain kind of mud on the bottom which, when he rubbed on a new baseball, would not change the baseball's color, but improved its grip. He kept the location of this stream a secret, and began to harvest the mud, package it in cans, and sell it to Major League Baseball. When Blackbourne died, his friend John Haas continued packaging and selling the special mud. Lena Blackbourne's Rubbing Mud is still used today in Major League Baseball. Before every game, the mud is rubbed on 5 dozen new baseballs. There is even a can of the mud on display at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, and the place where it is found in New Jersey is still a well kept secret. American League umpire Harry Geisel's complaints about slick baseballs sparked the practice.
Mud is a mixture. It contains different types of elements. There can be different compounds too.
Baseball, Umpires and Mudmajor league baseball use Louisiana mud or Mississippi mud to rub baseball i know because i work for a team as the bat boy.
Rubbed, not rolled, in New Jersey Mud.
Information on mud wrestling can be found on a variety of websites, along with pictures of people engaged in mud wrestling. The UK Mudwrestle website is quite informative and mud wrestling videos can be found on YouTube.
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