While it can’t be credited with winning the Los Angeles Dodgers their eighth World Series championship, baseball’s “magic mud” is the stuff of lore. Each Major League Baseball (MLB) team’s equipment manager applies it to every game ball. It improves the grip on the ball, can dull the shine on a new ball, and keep it from getting damaged.

The unique properties of baseball's famed "magic" mud have never been scientifically quantified—until now. In a paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science (Penn Engineering) and School of Arts & Sciences (SAS) reveal what makes the magic mud so special.

For decades, all the balls used in Major League Baseball have been coated with mud harvested from a secret spot along a Delaware River tributary in New Jersey. Only a few people knew of the exact location,

This year’s World Series may be over, but the sport has yet another success story that’s making headlines. This time, however, the legend in question isn’t a player—it’s the famous “magic mud.” Resear

Study confirms what MLB players have long professed: that the magic mud works and is not simply a superstition.

The unique properties of baseball’s famed “magic” mud have never been scientifically quantified — until now. In a new paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (

A special mud gets rubbed on every baseball before every MLB game to make them less slippery. A new study explains the science behind why it works.

A fascinating new study has revealed the mysterious science behind Lena Blackburne Baseball Rubbing Mud, a specialized substance applied to Major League Baseball (MLB) baseballs to make them easier to grip.