Caught Cheating!!
Let me preface this post with this... I'm pulling for the Detroit Tigers in this years World Series. Now that is primarily because I'm a Chicago Cubs fan and the St. Louis Cardinals are the nemesis of my beloved Cubbies!
Now... with that said... I have two cents on tonight's controversial happenings. Let me explain.
Now... with that said... I have two cents on tonight's controversial happenings. Let me explain.
In the first inning when Kenny Rogers came out to pitch for the Tigers the cameras caught a glimpse of Kenny's pitching hand (see below). There was an "unknown substance" on the base of his thumb... this substance very much resembled pine tar. (Pine tar is a very common resin in baseball, used for making grips more sticky on bats.) After what looked like some conversations in the dugout... Kenny Rogers disappeared into the back of the dugout and returned with a clean hand. Although in the second inning picture... you can still see a stain on his hand.
Now... I pitched from the time I was 8 years old until I graduated from college at 23. There are two things that I KNOW for sure about this whole situation.
1. If there is dirt on my PITCHING hand that can be picked up by a camera... I know about it. On my pitching hand... I know how long my nails are... how many hangnails I have... how strong the calouses are on the tips of my fingers... how sweaty my palms are. These are all things that every pitcher knows... especially a 41 year old pro!2. Pine tar will stain your skin... dirt won't! If you've got a decent amount of pine tar on your skin... it won't wash off that easily with a little water. It's a sticky resin that would leave a stain. Dirt... washes off really easily... especially dirt around a baseball field.
My take on this... Kenny Rogers was trying to cheat. Pine tar will help on breaking pitches because you can create more spin with sticky fingers! This was definitely intentional! In the long run... he really didn't need it. He still pitched a great game without the "obvious" pine tar. The question now remains... did he have some somewhere else? Perhaps on the inside of his glove?
I still haven't figured out myself what I really think about the whole thing... but I do know what I saw and how Detroit is trying to spin it! Someone in their PR department should have come up with a better excuse for him. Check out the article and make your own call. The video makes it all a little more obvious.
posted by Brett Austin at 10/22/2006 11:51:00 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
As a fellow pitcher and baseball fan; this incident saddens me. I am tired of the nonsense that takes place amongst professional athletics. This incident and others across all sports needs to be dealt with harshly. This incident is equally as embarrassing as the Sammy Sosa ordeal a few years back when he used a loaded bat. Brett, I know these are your boys, but again the baseball commission turned the other way. In my mind there are only two solutions to deal with the athletes that stink-up our professional sports.
1) We fire all professional athletes and bring up all amateur athletes who still play because they love the game and healthy good competition. (not a realistic option)
2) As consumers start voting with our dollars and viewer ratings. In response to last night’s fiasco I will no longer be watching the World Series. Now imagine if 20% of baseball fans decided to do the same thing. We are talking about million’s of dollars in lost revenue. As consumers we do not require anything from our professional athletes. We allow them to do as they please with little-to-now consequence; even to the tone of drugs and murder. It has gone far enough.
Good post B.
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Thanks for the inside scoop. Fascinating commentary. Rob said it just looks like dirt to him, so I made him read your post.
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