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Western Pennsylvania dirt is used in the infields of most MLB stadiums (2017)
- neonate 2y agohttps://archive.ph/vUQm4 https://archive.ph/vUQm4 https://web.archive.org/web/20180730152634/https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/pirates/2017/08/31/baseball-infield-dirt-mix-prices-duraedge-pnc-park-wrigley-field-duraedge-slippery-rock-soil-pennsylvania/stories/201708310111 https://web.archive.org/web/20180730152634/https://www.post-...
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- CSMastermind 2y agoIt's weird that they don't talk about what they're doing that supposedly makes the soil so special. They mention that once they installed the soil at the Pirates stadium (about 2 hours away from where it's manufactured) the number of rain delays dropped. If it were a property of the local soil you'd assume the existing soil in the pirates stadium would already have it. I can't believe the clay composition differs that much on a two hour drive. Instead I'm guessing it has something to do with how they process it?
- DiggyJohnson 2y agoSoil conditions can definitely vary wildly within 100 miles, and Pennsylvania goes from coast to river valley to mountains in much less distance.
- teruakohatu 2y agoNew Zealand is a major milk exporter, some countries pay a premium for our milk. And yet the milk we locals buy in the supermarket (which I am sure is the same as our exports) is milk that has been divided into its core elements (fat sugar protein) and the recombined in a certain ratio. New Zealand milk does not come from a cow, and I would think PA dirt baseball fields do not come from the ground, but rather PA has the right raw ingredients at hand. On a side now people here pay a premium for “raw milk” (unpasteurised straight from a cow).
- kevin_thibedeau 2y agoPennsylvania is a geologically diverse state. The soil can definitely vary across short distances.
- tadfisher 2y agoYes, and Western PA has the Poconos mountain chain, so various geologic strata are exposed in close proximity.
- anyonecancode 2y agoPoconos are actually eastern PA. There are also mountains in western PA, but I don't know their names without looking it up.
- 5555624 2y agoThe Allegheny Mountains are in western Pennsylvania.
- 5555624 2y agoThe Poconos are in northeastern Pennsylvania.
- giantg2 2y agoSoil map https://free-printablemap.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/general-soil-map-pennsylvania-library-of-congress-for-penn-state-soil-map.jpg https://free-printablemap.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/gen...
- CSMastermind 2y agoSuper helpful, thank you!
- nubinetwork 2y ago> It's weird that they don't talk about what they're doing that supposedly makes the soil so special. That would be like a bakery asking McDonald's how much sugar they put in their buns. If everyone could do it, they'd be out of business.
- affinepplan 2y agothe sugar content of a McDonald's bun is public knowledge Their competitive advantage has nothing to do (or at least extremely little) with recipe trade secrets. Any professional test kitchen could reproduce any McDonald's item within weeks
- seanw444 2y agoExactly. McDonald's not-so-secret secret recipe is immense scale.
- SkyPuncher 2y agoThis video may be of interest to you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6AUq3BSoLY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6AUq3BSoLY
- limitedfrom 2y agoRelated, all the dirt used to add texture to new MLB baseballs are from a riverbank somewhere in New Jersey, near Palmyra https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/26/sports/baseball/baseball-mud-supplier.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/26/sports/baseball/baseball-... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball_Rubbing_Mud https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball_Rubbing_Mud
- mmmlinux 2y agoWhy does he have to make up a story about why hes getting the mud. Is he not allowed to be taking mud from a public place and reselling it, since that's what it sounds like hes doing.
- tyree731 2y agoSince the location of where the mud is gathered is considered a secret, I imagine it's more about giving people a different reason as to why he's there.
- LeifCarrotson 2y agoProbably a bit of both. Assuming the oft-cited Delaware River and Palmyra references are genuine, no, Blackburne Rubbing Mud does not own any public property in Palmyra. Blackburne's registered address is 60 miles away. There's about a mile of riverfront on a public park, an industrial warehouse, and some condos. He's stealing the mud from public property. I'm sure that he'd be arrested if he showed up with an excavator and tried to start a gravel pit on a nature trail, but, it turns out, you can boast on national media about taking dirt from a public park if you only take a couple hundred pounds of it a year and do it sneakily, two bucketfuls at a time.
- DiggyJohnson 2y agoThere are so many plausible arrangement for this to be legal without his main company owning the riverfront property that and it’s absurd for you to think you’ve uncovered a scam in plain sight of a beloved and well known process .
- FL410 2y agoThis is neat. First I heard of it was this last weekend, when they mentioned during the Phillies/Mets game in London that the dirt had been shipped in from here as well.
- Turing_Machine 2y agoTFA is behind a paywall, so I don't know if this was mentioned. I've read that the Romans used to import arena sand from a certain area in North Africa because it was somehow better than the local sand. I think it was also used in upscale athletic facilities as well.
- tfryman 2y agohttps://archive.is/20220515135638/https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/pirates/2017/08/31/baseball-infield-dirt-mix-prices-duraedge-pnc-park-wrigley-field-duraedge-slippery-rock-soil-pennsylvania/stories/201708310111 https://archive.is/20220515135638/https://www.post-gazette.c...
- FredPret 2y agoWorth a look at the article just to get an eyeful of the man's "older computer". It's absolutely prehistoric and still in use. I love that.