In this week's installment of "A Day's Work" with Wade Boggs, the Hall of Fame third baseman heads to Colorado to inspect the famous humidor with which the Rockies combat the way altitude dries out baseballs. Before we get to that, though, a key note for me: once again, Wade totally rocks the Hawaiian shirt look. This week's white and yellow with blue accents is my favorite so far, and if there was a "click to purchase Wade's wardrobe link" I would totally click it.
The highlight of the video is one of the most arcane parts of baseball's pregame ritual: the rubbing up of new baseballs with a tub of special mud to remove the gloss. This has traditionally been the domain of the umpires, but today they delegate that to the home team. It's a treat to see Wade hold up a tin of "Lena Blackburne Original Baseball Rubbing Mud -- Baseball's Magic Mud" before lubing up the baseball. Blackburne was an outfielder and coach in the 1910s and 1920s who somehow concluded that New Jersey mud was best for rubbing up baseballs. Wade doffs the World Series rings and manfully rubs up his share, something that few Hall of Fame players can claim to have done. -- Steven Goldman
