Magic mudhole is game's big secret

Reuters ^ | 9-15-05 | Philip Barbara

[Pharmboy]

Reuters - Thu Sep 15, 1:08 PM ET Jim
Bintliff, co-owner of Lena Blackburne
Baseball Rubbing Mud, pours mud into a vat
near the mudhole in Delran, New Jersey in this
undated photograph. The unique 'magic mud,'
mined in the mudflats of a Delaware River
tributary, is rubbed on every new baseball used
by Major League teams to remove the sheen,
soften the seams and give pitchers a better grip.
At $45 for a quart container, Bintliff will ship
about 500 containers this year, he said.
(Handout/Reuters)

Delran, NJ (Reuters)Somewhere along the mudflats of a Delaware River tributary in New Jersey is the spot where baseball's "magic mud" is mined, a location known only to a few and kept secret for decades.

The unique mud is rubbed on every new baseball used by Major League teams to remove the sheen, soften the seams and give pitchers a better grip.

"It definitely changes the way the ball feels," said Washington Nationals pitcher John Patterson. "If you get a new baseball, it's slick, it's hard to hold on to. If you put some mud on it, it gives you a better grip."

Before a game, Nationals ballboy Lamont Poteat "rubs up" several dozen baseballs by dabbing each one with a fingertip-full of mud and massaging it with both hands until its sheen is dulled.

The origins of the mud are swathed in folklore. Asked where it came from, Patterson said: "From the Mississippi." Other players believe it is taken from an Alabama swamp.

In fact, the mud is supplied by a husband-and-wife outfit in New Jersey but the exact site of their mudhole is a closely guarded secret.

The few outsiders taken to the mudhole have been blindfolded and sworn to secrecy.

"You'll never find it no matter how hard you look," said Jim Bintliff, owner of Lena Blackburne Baseball Rubbing Mud.

CHOCOLATE PUDDING

In baseball's early days, infield dirt and water, shoe polish or tobacco juice were used to prepare balls but with uneven results. In 1938, an umpire complained about this to Russell Aubrey "Lena" Blackburne, a coach for the old Philadelphia Athletics.

When Blackburne was back home in New Jersey he checked out the mud in a creek where he used to go fishing. It had a texture like chocolate pudding but when rubbed on a baseball it had a slight grit that dried to a fine, powdery dust and removed the shine without making the cover soggy.

Blackburne was in business. He first sold the mud to American League teams in 1939 and to the National League in the 1950s. As word of his "magic mud" spread, his clientele grew.

Now every U.S. minor league team and some 25 colleges buy it, as well as a few teams in the Caribbean winter leagues.

The company was opening up new markets for its mud, selling it in Asia to the South Korean Stars, and to its first football team, The San Francisco 49ers, said Bintliff who sells the mud for $45 for a quart container and expects to ship some 500 containers this year.

Magic Rubbing Mud had become such a tradition that it was on display at the baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, he said.

What might make the mud unique are the "sugar sand" and the organic materials washed down from the Jersey Pine Barrens forest into the Rancocas and Pennsauken creeks, two Delaware River tributaries, said Dale Nixon, an expert on state geology at the New Jersey State Police Marine Bureau.

Said Bintliff: "You can't find this mud 100 miles south or 50 miles north. It's indigenous to the area."

He screens the mud several times and adds an organic substance which he will not divulge, then ships it within a day of receiving an order.

ROSE BUSHES

The company was passed down from Blackburne to a friend who was Bintliff's grandfather, and now its secrets -- the mudhole's location and the additive -- are family heirlooms.

When Bintliff needs to replenish his supply and the tides are right, he drives from his suburban home to the mudhole, making sure he is not followed. He parks his pickup truck and hikes to the spot. If someone -- a boater or bird watcher, for instance -- chances upon him while he is scooping the mud into a pail, he tells them it is for his rose bushes.

Bintliff, who also works as a commercial printer, and his wife Joanne vigorously defend their turf.

There are some 96 km of shoreline on Rancocas and 16 km on Pennsauken. The creeks cut through public land but also residential neighborhoods and police warn that trespassers can be arrested.

Tidal action replenishes the mud after each visit, so there will never be a shortage, Bintliff said.

There would be plenty of mud for a competitor, he knows, though Jersey mud will not make anyone rich.

"There's not a lot of money in dirt," said Bintliff, who nonetheless values his role as mud purveyor.

"It's more the uniqueness of the business and having relationships with people in baseball," he said.

[Pharmboy]

It might be neat to beat your feet in the Mississippi Mud, but if you want to get a better grip on your (base)balls, use the stuff from New Jersey.

[cripplecreek]

That guy was on the "Dirty Jobs" show on the Discovery channel.

[Pharmboy]

Yeah...but it's "clean" dirty. And, it's for baseball.

[stylin19a]

Said Bintliff: "You can't find this mud 100 miles south or 50 miles north. It's indigenous to the area

uh-oh...tree huggers might put a stop to this business....endangered mud, you know.

[Pharmboy]

"Endangered mud." Excellent.