Baseball’s Magic Mud May Not Be Jack’s Magic Beans, But It Is A One-Of-A-Kind Product

Sound crazy? I thought so until I read about Lena Blackburne’s Baseball Rubbing Mud.

The custom of rubbing the shine from new balls was established in 1920 after Cleveland Indians’ star shortstop, Ray Chapman, was struck in the head and killed by an errant pitch. The tragic beanball was an accident blamed on the slickness of a new ball causing the league to legislate rule 3.01c with its intention being to assure pitchers could get a more reliable grip on the ball.

This particular statute requires that before every game six to seven dozen balls be rubbed down to remove the ball’s gloss of newness. To accomplish this during the 1920s and early 1930s substances such as shoe polish, tobacco juice and infield dirt mixed with water, were used but yielded inconsistent results. Then during the 1938 season R.A. “Lena” Blackburne, discovered a soft viscous bed of mud on a tributary of the Delaware River in southern New Jersey. Having been privy to complaints by umpires regarding the disgusting process of applying tobacco juice to the balls Blackburne decided to market this special mud as a rubbing compound for baseballs. While the rule doesn’t specify Lena’s brand, it quickly became the standard Rubbing Mud and is the only one used by the American league since the late 1930s.

League rivalry prevented the National league from obtaining the compound until the 1950s at which time they also adopted it as the only rubbing mud to be used at their games. As time passed other companies tried to market alternative compounds but none could match the effectiveness of magic mud. In acknowledgment of Blackburne’s contribution to the game of baseball Lena’s Rubbing Mud has been enshrined in the Hall of Fame and is the only foreign substance ever deemed worthy of such an honor.

According to an Army Corps of Engineers analysis, the magic ingredient found in the mud is feldspar; otherwise, there is no explanation for the south
Jersey mud’s superiority.

As of today, Blackburne’s Baseball Rubbing Mud is used throughout Major League Baseball, with most major league ballparks only needing a single three-pound tub for an entire season. However, the compound is directly available from the company at a reasonable price and is available in 8-ounce (personal), 16-ounce (institutional) and 32-ounce professional) sizes. To place an order, go here.

[tags]Lena, Blackburne, Rubbing Compound, Baseball, Magic Mud, American League, National League, feldspar, Ray Chapman[/tags]