Lena Blackburne - Wikipedia But he may be most remembered for what he did off the field when he developed a business dredging mud from the bottom of a Delaware River tributary. There are 27 public health facilities, a city cinema, a theatre, libraries, amusement parks, a stadium and sports complex and swimming pools. A total of 143,000 people live in the city. After spending most of the next two years back in the minors, he returned to the White Sox in 1914 and 1915. He said it's a matter of safety. Rather than enforce the rules, MLB is considering a different idea: using baseballs that allow for a better grip. Of course, it wasn't as a player or manager that Blackburne made his name in baseball. It all began in 1938 when an umpire complained to Lena Blackburne, a third base coach for the old Philadelphia Athletics, about the sorry condition of the baseballs used by the American League. All rights reserved. [1] Taldykorgan previously served as the capital city of Taldykorgan Region from 1944 to 1997 and Almaty Region from 1997 to 2022 and now serves as the capital of the new Jetisu Region. He revisited the spot andscooped up some mud from the creek. He joined Connie Mack's A's coaching staff in 1933 and remained with the team until 1938 and again in 1940, 1942 and 1943. He is best known for the creation of his baseball rubbing mud, used to remove the finish on new baseballs and give better grip and control to the pitcher. For nearly "The National League got it in 1950.". So in the old days, theyd just rub em with dirt from around home plate, with maybe a spit or two of tobacco juice.. Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. Mudmade of water and dirt from the playing field was then used. https://storage.googleapis.com/afs-prod/media/345efdbb4e6b423e8843e9cb0422ae85/800.jpeg, https://equipmentmanagers.org/AEMAdoc/journals/2016.pdf?x18425. Russell Aubrey "Lena" Blackburne, a coach with Connie Macks old Philadelphia Athletics during the 1930s, looked for an alternative.