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Any professional baseball game, from the Major Leagues down to independent ball, will have a bit of the Delaware River present. More specifically, mud from somewhere along the Delaware River. Only Lena Blackburne and his descendants know the location and exact ingredients of the mud, but it’s been rubbed on baseballs since 1939.
Brand new baseballs are too shiny and glossy out of the packaging, thus Rule 3.01 (c): “The umpire shall inspect the baseballs and ensure that they are regulation baseballs and that they are properly rubbed so that the gloss is removed.” A properly rubbed ball makes it easier for the pitcher to grip, and some claim that it makes it harder for hitters to pick up the rotation of the ball.
Throughout the 1920’s and 30’s, balls were rubbed with a water and dirt combo from the field, tobacco juice, shoe polish or other like substances. These didn’t work all that well, but nothing changed until 1938, when umpire Harry Geisel complained about the sorry state of rubbing material for baseballs to Lena Blackburne, who was the third base coach for the Philadelphia Athletics at the time.
That offseason, Blackburne went home to Burlington County in New Jersey and dug up some mud from somewhere along the Delaware River (the exact location, to this day, is a closely guarded secret). The next spring he presented a can of “Lena Blackburne’s Baseball Rubbing Mud” to Geisel, and word spread rapidly through the League. By the 1950’s, all levels of professional baseball were rubbing baseballs with Blackburne’s unique mud. Imitators have come and gone, but no mixture, natural or artificial, comes close to comparing to the mud from the streams of the Delaware.
What started as a simple way to make a little money on the side for Blackburne turned into a full fledged industry, and his unique contribution to the game earned Backburne and his “Lena Blackburne’s Baseball Rubbing Mud” a mention in the Baseball Hall of Fame, as well as a place in the umpire room of every clubhouse in professional baseball.
Sources:
http://baseballrubbingmud.com/
Morris, Peter A Game of Inches: The Game on the Field
2009 Official Baseball Rules
Bonus:
Article on Baltimore Orioles' umpire assistant Ernie Tyler, who's been prepping baseballs for games since 1960:
http://www.pressboxonline.com/story.cfm?id=3844
