Hobbies

Fact-checked

Why Are Major League Baseballs Rubbed with a Special Type of Mud?

Last Modified Date: February 10, 2024

New Jersey doesn't have a pro baseball team, but without it, every team in the major leagues might be seeing many more wild pitches, injuries, and bad throws.

Since the late 1930s, Major League ballclubs have been coating baseballs with a thin layer of mud that comes from a secret place along the Delaware River in New Jersey. The coating ensures better grip.

To make them grippy, all MLB baseballs are coated with a special mud from a secret location on the Delaware River.

According to Washington Nationals relief pitcher Shawn Kelley, “If a pitcher were to throw a brand-new baseball, most would tell you they couldn’t be assured that it would even end up over the plate." The mud comes courtesy of Lena Blackburne Baseball Rubbing Mud, a family business started by Philadelphia Athletics third-base coach Russell Aubrey "Lena" Blackburne in the late 1930s and now run by Jim and Joanne Bintliff.

Each year, the Bintliffs collect and sell around 2,000 pounds (907.2 kg) of the mud to Major League Baseballs clubs, as well as many minor league and college teams. Before every game, MLB teams spend time rubbing the mud onto the 12 dozen balls they provide, making sure they use enough to provide a good grip but not so much that batters struggle to see the ball. Perhaps that's what happened in "Casey at the Bat." After all, Casey played for the Mudville nine...

Three strikes:

Baseball covers are made of cowhide that is inspected for 17 types of flaws before being approved.

All of the 80,000 baseballs used each year in the majors are made by Rawlings in Costa Rica.

The movie Bull Durham famously notes that a baseball has 108 stitches, while a rosary contains 108 beads. In fact, the Catholic rosary has 59 beads, although the japamala used in Hinduism and Buddhism contains 108 beads. (Well, some people consider baseball a religion...)