This may be a dumb question ... but

[Frayed Knot]

those insignia things on the bak-side of the mound ... what are they made of?

At first they all seemed to be mono-chromatic so I thought they were merely impressions in the dirt, as if a solid version of the Mets 'NY' or the Nationals 'Curly W' for instance had been slapped and they simply raked around it prior to the game leaving the design. Except that they never seemed to get messed up during the course of the game from feet or weather so it had to be more that just that.
And more recently these logos have gained color and detail and some even look as if they got some depth to them like maybe they're a nailed-down something-or-other similar to that spike cleaning pad right near it or the pitcher rubber itself - even though if I'm the pitcher the last thing I want is something else out there that I might trip over.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I think it's made of some kind of dust-resistant goo.

[Frayed Knot]

Seems to me that goo would tend to attract dust, but clubs these days probably each have their own goo-ologist who know a helluva lot more about this stuff than I do.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

I think it's spray paint. Seriously.

[Lefty Specialist]

I've been waiting forever for some jerkwad pitcher to go back there and mess it up with his spikes. I'm sure that there's some edict from Bud that says if you do you're suspended for 50 games, but I'd love to see it happen just once, since that logo is visible the whole freaking game.

Oh, to dream.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I once, while at a game, half paid attention as they were applying the thing. It does seem to me to be some kind of gel (I'm pretty sure I noticed some glistening as it was applied) that makes it resistant to being messed up.

[Lefty Specialist]

You could still kick dirt on top of it if you were properly motivated, I'd imagine.

[Frayed Knot]

Lefty Specialist wrote: I've been waiting forever for some jerkwad pitcher to go back there and mess it up with his spikes. I'm sure that there's some edict from Bud that says if you do you're suspended for 50 games, but I'd love to see it happen just once, since that logo is visible the whole freaking game.

See that's kind of what got me on to this.
I mean, yeah, it's on the back of the mound, the one spot in fair territory where cleated feet rarely tread. But you figure if whatever created the logo was, in fact, mess-up-able it would at least occasionally get messed-up even if only by weather or by chance, and that's all before we even bring jerkwads with mischief on their minds into the equation. Hell, doesn't ARod run across the mound after popping out at least once a week or so?

But the fact that those logos always seem to be nearly as pristine in the 9th inning as they are in the 1st leads me to believe that there's more than just high-tech stenciling going on with these things. And now, the fact that some have added color and even multiple colors to theirs puts us in a whole new arena here.





So maybe this wasn't such a dumb question after all. I expected a near chorus of responses saying something on the order of: 'Frayed you insipid moron, everyone over the age of 9 can plainly see that those things are made by _____________'

[Benjamin Grimm]

I think it's an extra large Shrinky Dink.