Lena Blackburne wanted to play baseball and become famous.  He played on many professional teams but was just an ordinary player.  He did, however, become famous.  As a coach, he learned that new baseballs were too shiny to throw and too hard to see.  Different methods used to break them in were unsatisfactory.  One day while fishing, he stepped into some soft, gooey mud that was slightly gritty.  He rubbed the mud on baseballs and let it dry.  When he rubbed it off, the baseballs had lost the shine and were not soft or smelly.  The “new” baseballs were easy to throw and see.  Lena Blackburne’s baseball mud mad him famous.  To this day, Lena’s mud is the only substance allowed on major-league baseballs.  Although Lena Blackburne never made it into the Baseball Hall of Fame, his mud did!  A short author’s note adds more information about the famous mud but not the secret to what makes it work.  Illustrations by Oliver Dominguez are large, colorful and depict the energy and emotions of the sport.