Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
August 11, 2004
Scuffing the Ball

I'm watching the Red Sox pre-game show on NESN. They have Dennis Leary and Lenny Clarke on to promote Rescue Me. They're going to throw out the first pitch tonight, and Bob Tewksbury is giving them hints (throw it cross seam, so it doesn't sink). Then Bob starts showing them how to scuff the ball. He has a round piece of emory board glued to the underside of his glove hand middle finger. "Take the glove off and rub up the ball." He then shows a clear scuff mark on the ball. If the umpire comes out, you just flip the emory board off your finger as you remove the glove. Dennis then asked Bob if he ever scuffed the ball. He said, "I never did it, but I never threw one back that was scuffed, because I know how to use it."

Good job, Bob, teaching all the children watching how to cheat.


Posted by David Pinto at 06:27 PM | Pitchers | TrackBack (0)
Comments

I love when players try to cheat.

Posted by: Larry Mahnken at August 11, 2004 07:22 PM

Somehow, that sort of cheating in baseball really doesn't bother me. I'm not really sure why it doesn't, but it seems there are cheats that are part of the game, like scuffing balls, trying to fake out an umpire, or having the grounds crew do something weird, that require a certain amount of skill and such that I don't really mind. And then there are things like steroid use that I really think are bad. I can't really justify being of two minds on the subject, but I am. Corked bats, I'm a little ambivalent about... it's not the sort of thing that takes wits and skill to do, and a lot of people say that it doesn't even help you.

But when someone like Sammy Sosa or Wilton Guerrero gets caught corking the bat, it just seems like baseball players doing something underhanded but kind of silly and historically part of the game. Any time somebody gets caught, they should be punished, of course--- that's what keeps people honest. But in my eyes a player caught corking a bat, stealing signs, or scuffing the ball doesn't disgrace the game the way someone shooting up with steroids or gambling does. Sammy Sosa, however, prides himself on being a role model, and should take care not to do anything to sully his reputation.

Adam

Posted by: Adam Villani at August 11, 2004 08:55 PM

Jim Bouton's Ball Four goes over this stuff. If you haven't heard of "greenies", they're the amphetamines that so many players were hopped up on throughout the late 60's and 70's. Ballplayers do whatever they can to get an edge. The current 'roid outrage is interesting, because as long as they could find 'em, players have been filling themselves with all sorts of drugs to enhance their performance, whether it's uppers, narcotics, painkillers and anti-inlamatories, or strength enhancers. Yet somehow this line has been crossed with steroids...is it that when players were hopped up on speed, we didn't see them any larger, and were willing to forgive? or at least pop our heads in the sand?

Posted by: Dave S. at August 12, 2004 08:33 AM

I think cheating is cheating, based on the rule book. Feeling "sentimental" about the traditional avenues of cheating and anger with steroids is unfair. Don't like the rules, change it. Short of that, I'm not sure if faking out an umpire/player, or coach/player on the field stealing signs--things participants do--are in the same kind of category as cheating outside the gameplay, using the grounds crew, corking and doing drugs.

Additionally, I agree with Dave, steroids aren't really that much more influential than all the other modern medicine/surgery that are considered legal. With the same logic, I think modern medicine has much to do with longivity of players like Edgar and Bonds as anything like DH. There I said it, steroid should be legalized, and Edgar should be in the hall.

Posted by: wilson at August 12, 2004 06:43 PM