Effectively Wild Episode 2244: Their Name is Mud

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley follow up on previous banter about the best title for a president of both baseball and business operations, then deliver fresh banter about how Derrek Lee’s 2005 RBI total was a sign of its time, where the Rays will play in 2025 and beyond, the Marlins’ new manager, and a slew of modest Angels signings. Then (48:02) they’re joined by UPenn professor and post-doctoral researcher, respectively, Douglas Jerolmack and Shravan Pradeep, to discuss their recent research about how the sport’s storied Lena Blackburne Baseball Rubbing Mud works, its special qualities, whether it could or should be synthesized, and more.

Audio intro: Luke Lillard, “Effectively Wild Theme”
Audio outro: Tom Rhoads, “Effectively Wild Theme”

Link to Falvey news
Link to worst leadoff tOPS+
Link to 2005 Cubs batting order splits
Link to Dril tweet
Link to MLBTR on the Rays in 2025
Link to more on 2025 Rays
Link to Rays in 2028
Link to MLBTR on McCullough
Link to Ben C. on d’Arnaud
Link to guests’ research paper
Link to Doug’s UPenn page
Link to Shravan’s UPenn page
Link to Shravan’s website
Link to UPenn research summary
Link to NYT research summary
Link to PopSci research summary
Link to NBC news research summary
Link to rubbing mud wiki
Link to GLP-1 origins
Link to rubbing mud video
Link to mud maker story 1
Link to mud maker story 2
Link to sticky synthesis story