# How many baseballs are used in todays games.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-baseballs-are-used-in-todays-games/592975>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [August 17, 2011, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-baseballs-are-used-in-todays-games/592975 "2011-08-17T00:49:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Mewl\_Dear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Mewl\_Dear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mewl_Dear)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-baseballs-are-used-in-todays-games/592975/1 "2011-08-17T00:49:59Z")

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I seem to recall that there were 60 new balls available to start a game but that was before every ball that hit anything was tossed aside or to a fan. Do they reuse some?  
Do all the balls still get rubbed with Delaware River mud? By the umps?  
I could google but you guys are more fun.

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**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-baseballs-are-used-in-todays-games/592975/2 "2011-08-17T01:22:10Z")

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> [@Mewl\_Dear](#):
>
> Do all the balls still get rubbed with Delaware River mud? By the umps?

IIRC, the umps prepare 3-4 boxes of 24 each. So, in the neighborhood of 72-96 balls.

And, yes, all MLB baseballs are prepared using “blue mud”. I know you deliberately didn’t Google, but there is a fantastic SI article out there about the whole process. If it’s on the Web, it’s worth the search. Great read.