6 ms·

Related, 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/sp

Related, 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 ago
Why 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 ago
  Since 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 ago
    Probably 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 ago
      There 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 .
    - Projectiboga 2y ago
      Palmyra NJ is a distraction. It comes from a South Jersey creek in the same county as Palmyra. I think that water is cleaner than the Delaware itself. That water runs through a forest type boundary between, I believe, three forest types, so that specific mud may actually be fairly unique.
jihadjihad 2y ago
That's crazy, I've never heard of that before, and I've watched plenty of baseball. They just straight up rub the balls in mud, before every game? And just rinse them and they're good to go?
- legitster 2y ago
  Breaking in balls for professional sports is a whole thing. Brand new equipment out of the box sucks, but if you let equipment managers bring out old balls than there is going to be wild variations between every different ball used. So having a consistent break-in process is pretty important. You should see the kind of shenanigans they do in the football world: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/4136154/2023/01/31/nfl-kickers-super-bowl-footballs/ https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/4136154/2023/01/31/nfl-kick...
- ciabattabread 2y ago
  And that section of the Delaware River is not known for its water quality.
  - hanniabu 2y ago
    Well, technically it is, it's just not good water quality!
- limitedfrom 2y ago
  Pretty much! Here's a video of it in action (and the mud collection): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flrWvnhPmng https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flrWvnhPmng Considering over 1,140,000 (2019 figures[0]) balls get used through the season (not even including practice and playoff balls), it's an astounding amount of mud rubbing action. [0] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/1171328/2019/08/29/what-you-didnt-know-about-this-years-baseballs-all-1-1-million-of-them/ https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/1171328/2019/08/29/what-you...
  - metadat 2y ago
    Yet they don't sell these treated balls by default en-mass. Kids don't grow up playing with a proper baseball. Seems kinda sad, it'd be cool if the MLB kept it real by diverting a small amount of profit to make sure public schools had legit baseballs to train the next generation with. They could market the fuck out of this, too. Why aren't these MLB exdecs a tad more creative?

mmmlinux 2y ago

Why 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 ago
Since 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 ago
  Probably 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 ago
    There 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 .
  - Projectiboga 2y ago
    Palmyra NJ is a distraction. It comes from a South Jersey creek in the same county as Palmyra. I think that water is cleaner than the Delaware itself. That water runs through a forest type boundary between, I believe, three forest types, so that specific mud may actually be fairly unique.

jihadjihad 2y ago

That's crazy, I've never heard of that before, and I've watched plenty of baseball. They just straight up rub the balls in mud, before every game? And just rinse them and they're good to go?

legitster 2y ago
Breaking in balls for professional sports is a whole thing. Brand new equipment out of the box sucks, but if you let equipment managers bring out old balls than there is going to be wild variations between every different ball used. So having a consistent break-in process is pretty important. You should see the kind of shenanigans they do in the football world: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/4136154/2023/01/31/nfl-kickers-super-bowl-footballs/ https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/4136154/2023/01/31/nfl-kick...
ciabattabread 2y ago
And that section of the Delaware River is not known for its water quality.
- hanniabu 2y ago
  Well, technically it is, it's just not good water quality!
limitedfrom 2y ago
Pretty much! Here's a video of it in action (and the mud collection): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flrWvnhPmng https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flrWvnhPmng Considering over 1,140,000 (2019 figures[0]) balls get used through the season (not even including practice and playoff balls), it's an astounding amount of mud rubbing action. [0] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/1171328/2019/08/29/what-you-didnt-know-about-this-years-baseballs-all-1-1-million-of-them/ https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/1171328/2019/08/29/what-you...
- metadat 2y ago
  Yet they don't sell these treated balls by default en-mass. Kids don't grow up playing with a proper baseball. Seems kinda sad, it'd be cool if the MLB kept it real by diverting a small amount of profit to make sure public schools had legit baseballs to train the next generation with. They could market the fuck out of this, too. Why aren't these MLB exdecs a tad more creative?