Why does most major league baseball stadiums use soil from western Pennsylvania?

There is no set origin for the soil and sand used in baseball stadiums, but 26 of the 30 home stadiums in Major League Baseball use soil from the same area in western Pennsylvania. The reason for this is said to be the 'ground revolution.'

Why Western Pennsylvania dirt is used in the infields of most MLB stadiums | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The soil used in 26 major league baseball stadiums is made by a company called DuraEdge.

DuraEdge Engineered Infield Mixes, Clays, & Conditioners For Ballfields

After graduating from college, DuraEdge President Grant McKnight joined his father's construction materials company, where he also maintained golf course turf.

McKnight was tasked with a project to renovate the grounds of his hometown, Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania, and he came up with a plan to build a completely new ground. The athletic director of the university was hesitant to build an unprecedented ground, but McKnight pushed through.

However, while there was a track record and documentation of turf in the golf course business, there was no documentation at all for baseball or softball fields, so McKnight decided to research everything from scratch.

McKnight carefully measured the ratio of silt to soil and mixed various sands to create his own unique mix. The key to the mix was red soil that can only be found near the DuraEdge plant. 'The red soil in western Pennsylvania is special,' McKnight explains.

The video below explains how DuraEdge turns red clay into ground soil.

The DuraEdge Story | From Mine to Ballfield | DuraEdge Products - YouTube


DuraEdge 'soil' became popular through high school and college teams that played on the Slippery Rock University field, and was adopted by the independent league Washington Wild Things in 2002. A few years later, the major league team Philadelphia Phillies also began using it.

Matt Brown of the Pittsburgh Pirates, who actually introduced DuraEdge soil, said in an interview with a local newspaper in 2017, 'DuraEdge has revolutionized the field and saved games that would have otherwise been postponed or delayed.'

According to Brown, DuraEdge soil is easy to maintain and does not clump easily even after sliding, so irregular bounces are less likely to occur. In addition, because it is highly absorbent, games can be played without problems even in light rain, which has also reduced costs due to postponements. In the case of the Pirates, before installing DuraEdge in the fall of 2008, an average of 5.6 games were postponed per year, but since installing it, this has decreased to an average of 2.5 games per year.

DuraEdge soil is used in 1,200 to 1,500 stadiums across the U.S., and the Pirates are also installing it in their minor league stadiums. The cost is said to be around $15,000 to $50,000.

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