(Top) Jars of Lena Blackburne Rubbing Mud. (Bottom) An example of a mudded ball. All you need is a light coating! Photos by the DRBC.

Why Mud Baseballs?

The sheen on new baseballs makes them slippery. In the 1920s, Ray Chapman died after being hit by an errant pitch. After the tragedy, teams started to look for what could be used on baseballs to give pitchers a better grip and more control.

First they used the juice of chewing tobacco, but the umpires griped about applying that gross substance to balls before every game.

Mud made of water and dirt from the playing field was then used. But, it didn't have the right consistency.

Russell Aubrey "Lena" Blackburne, a coach with Connie Mack’s old Philadelphia Athletics during the 1930s, looked for an alternative.

As the story goes, Blackburne enjoyed fishing a Delaware River tributary in New Jersey when he was younger. He revisited the spot and scooped up some mud from the creek. He tried it out on a shiny new ball -- an experiment that would alter the course of our National Pastime.

The mud, described as "smooth and creamy, but with a fine grit," worked better than the juice!

Soon, all American League teams were using this mud, and the National League quickly followed suit.

Lena Blackburne passed away and willed the secret to a close friend, whose family has been collecting and providing mud to teams ever since. 

Mudding Baseballs Today

Lena Blackburne Baseball Rubbing Mud is used throughout Major League & Minor League Baseball to rough up the six or seven dozen new balls prepared for every game.

In fact, it is the only legal substance that can be added to balls. A team will go through about three or four pounds of it every season.

Colleges, high schools and little leagues use the mud too.

Others have tried to replicate the mud's unique consistency, but to date, nothing has come close.

The special connection between America's favorite pastime and the Delaware River Basin continues to live on.

Learn How to Mud a Baseball with Former Phillies Pitcher Cole Irvin!

Mudding Footballs?

You read that right - Lena Blackburne Rubbing Mud is also used in America's favorite sport - football!

Many NFL teams - including the Philadelphia Eagles - also use Lena Blackburne Rubbing Mud in their preparation of footballs for each game. The silt-based mud doesn't scratch the leather.

• How to Mud a Football Like the Pros: https://www.wilson.com/en-us/blog/football/how-tos/how-prep-football-pros

DRBC Info

• DRBC and the Iron Pigs Team Up, Teach Baseball's Muddy Connection to the Delaware River (June 2019)
  
  
• Baseball's Dirty Side (pdf)

National Baseball Hall of Fame

• Lena Blackburne Rubbing Mud a Secret of the Game

6ABC News, September 2022

• "Art of Aging: Atlantic County man making mud that helps pitchers throw the heat"

New York Times, July 2022

• "He's Baseball's Only Mud Supplier. It's a Job He May Soon Lose"

NJ.COM, May 2022

• "N.J. has a ‘dirty’ secret ... that Major League Baseball can’t live without"

NBC News, Oct. 2014

• "Baseball Has a Dirty Little Secret: Lena Blackburne Rubbing Mud"

WHYY News, Oct. 2011

• "All MLB Baseballs Get Treatment From South Jersey Mud"

ESPN, April 2010

• "Mud Plays Part in Game of Baseball"

CNN, October 2009

• "Harvesting Baseball's 'Magic Mud'"

National Public Radio, April 2009

• "Secret Dirt's Pivotal Role In Baseball"