The Philadelphia Phillies, the first big-league client of DuraEdge, have helped the Slippery Rock-based company become Major League Baseball’s chief supplier of dirt, writes Frank Fitzpatrick for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The Phillies started using DuraEdge products 13 years ago, and put the company on the map during a rainy World Series game against the Tampa Bay Rays. Despite the awful weather conditions, the ground stayed surprisingly stable.

It was soon discovered that the secret was in dry rock found near Slippery Rock, the western Pennsylvania borough that has now become the Capital of Baseball Dirt.

Today, 18 teams play on infields made from the hard and powerfully absorbent clay that DuraEdge mines and refines. Overall, 22 MLB teams use the company’s products on warning tracks, mounds, and batter’s boxes.

“People have no idea that most of the dirt beneath major leaguers’ feet comes from Slippery Rock,” said Grant McKnight, DuraEdge’s founder and president. “That one play in the World Series put us on the map.”

With demand growing, the company has added satellite production facilities across the country, with one soon expected to open in the Philadelphia area.

Read more about DuraEdge in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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Editor’s Note: This post first appeared on VISTA Today in July 2018.