Lena Blackburne

Blackburne made an unusual contribution to baseball when he discovered and marketed the special mud from the Delaware River used by umpires to rub the gloss off new baseballs. His feminine nickname came from a leather-lunged minor league fan who compared him to another player, Cora Donovan, but Blackburne claimed it was because he had a “lean” physique. More successful as a minor league manager and coach, his term as White Sox skipper (1928-29) was most notable for his savage fistfight with one of his own players, Art (The Great) Shires. Blackburne’s one outing as a pitcher came in his only appearance of 1929.