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Monday, August 01, 2022

Baseball's only mud supplier, in the age of sports analytics and tech refinements.

 Link. While shaping of bats is tailored to individual players, the baseballs are uniform, and mudding them is currently being made more uniform -

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MLB began an investigation that included asking each of the 30 teams to send videos of their clubhouse employees “mudding” the balls for game-day use.

“What you found was 30 different ways of how to apply the mud,” Caplin said. “Some guys just used a towel, while other guys really rubbed it in, getting it ingrained into the leather.”

MLB executives responded by sending a memorandum last month to every team with updated regulations for the “Storage and Handling of Baseballs.” The instructions for how to mud a baseball are Talmudic.

“All baseballs projected to be used in a specific game must be mudded within 3 hours of all other baseballs being used in that game, and must be mudded on the same day that they are going to be used … Baseballs should not be out of the humidor for more than two hours at any point prior to first pitch … Rubbing mud should be applied to each baseball for at least 30 seconds ensuring that mud is rubbed thoroughly and consistently into the entire leather surface of the ball … ”

And it is special New Jersey mud, from a one-man supplier, dug from a secret river spot.

A natural monopoly if there ever was one. Read the details.