Interesting story from 2018 on the infield dirt mix.
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During Game 5 of the 2008 World Series, a cold rain fell relentlessly on Citizens Bank Park. Just before play was suspended, with the Phillies leading, 2-1, Tampa's B.J. Upton took off for second base…
Each footfall raised a plume of water on the puddle-pocked infield, yet the Rays outfielder moved swiftly and freely, easily beating catcher Carlos Ruiz's throw.
"The ground stayed stable," Mike Boekholder, the Phillies' head groundskeeper, recalled recently. "Despite all that surface water, it stayed stable. I talked to Upton later, and he was amazed. He said, `It was the weirdest thing. You had all this water on the top, but I never lost traction.' "
Many others in baseball noticed, too. They wanted to know about the makeup of that infield, how it could withstand so much rain, why it remained playable. The secret, they would learn with some bemusement, was a dry rock found near Slippery Rock [PA]…
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A soggy steal ignited a trend that has resulted in a more scientific approach to infield construction and maintenance and in Dura Edge's becoming MLB's chief supplier of dirt.
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