SI Story on Pitch Doctoring and Foreign Substances in MLB

slugboy

slugboy

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This reads like a classic Sports Illustrated article; it’s really well-written. An equipment guy on the Angels provides pitching dope for 7-figure pitchers around the league. When the league cracks down, the guy who isn’t part of the union gets fired, but everyone else is just fine. Also, the Angels sue him for more than he made.

www.si.com

He Made Sticky Stuff for MLB Pitchers for 15 Years. Now He's Speaking Out.

Aces texted him and hurlers across baseball used his “stuff.” After the Angels fired him, this clubhouse attendant wants to know why he’s the lone fall guy.
www.si.com www.si.com
 
Lightbulb

Lightbulb

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slugboy said:
This reads like a classic Sports Illustrated article; it’s really well-written. An equipment guy on the Angels provides pitching dope for 7-figure pitchers around the league. When the league cracks down, the guy who isn’t part of the union gets fired, but everyone else is just fine. Also, the Angels sue him for more than he made.

www.si.com

He Made Sticky Stuff for MLB Pitchers for 15 Years. Now He's Speaking Out.

Aces texted him and hurlers across baseball used his “stuff.” After the Angels fired him, this clubhouse attendant wants to know why he’s the lone fall guy.
www.si.com www.si.com
Click to expand...

Very good article. Every time they brought up Gerrit Cole, I couldn't help but think about that awkward interview he gave in the last week.
 
LibertyTurns

LibertyTurns

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Is anyone surprised this is how this all went down? It’s the way things work today. The top dogs want the results, the key players flaunt the rules & when the proverbial crap hits the fan some little guy way down the totem pole without the resources to defend himself takes the pipe. The deny, deny, deny defense and flat out lying to CYA aka deflection techniques were perfected over 2 decades ago.

There is no more accountability in our country at all.
 

CINCYMETJACKET

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I'll be interested to see how this impacts my Mets pitchers. deGrom, Stroman, and Walker are having career years, and some in our bullpen have had great starts as well. I'd like to believe that the Mets are clean, but I'm not naive.
 
FredJacket

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senoiajacket said:
And now, Tyler Glassnow gets injured and he blames it on MLB for enforcing their rules. Some my disagree (with me and agree with Glassnow), but I think this is ludicrous, whinny, and absurd for him to blame MLB. He knowingly breaks the rules and then when they are enforced, blames MLB for an injury.

Tyler Glasnow blames his injury on MLB’s sticky substance ban - SBNation.com
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Do you think he's lying about changing his grip after quitting "cold turkey" on whatever sticky stuff he was using? I believe him. ...& it makes sense to me. It is plausible he injured himself as a result. The timing can't be denied.

To this point, I'm annoyed with both the players & MLB.

Players: If you think gripping baseballs is a safety issue... bring it up, offer solutions, change rules... don't just cheat until caught (or called on it).

MLB: MLB mishandled this (so far). A rule that never was enforced ...& over time nearly every pitcher seems to be using something illegal for better grip... is really not a rule. Would we "accept" a speeding ticket going 58 in a 55mph zone. We KNOW the rules!!! [Actually... we know how the rules are enforced] MLB has every right to do what they've done, I guess... but at this point, they need to be much more careful about it. The players have other concerns about gripping baseballs. MLB should slow down a figure out a way forward that is fair & protects the players while keeping things competitive.
 
GTNavyNuke

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No reason to be annoyed. MLB, NBA and NFL are simply entertainment and financial enterprises. Each side (owners and players) will respond in a way that they think optimizes their short and long term profitability.

I'd like to say cycling with much less money is better, but there are too many syringes and blood bags in the closet to go there.
 

CINCYMETJACKET

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GTNavyNuke said:
No reason to be annoyed. MLB, NBA and NFL are simply entertainment and financial enterprises. Each side (owners and players) will respond in a way that they think optimizes their short and long term profitability.

I'd like to say cycling with much less money is better, but there are too many syringes and blood bags in the closet to go there.
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Agree, but I don't see how enforcing rules that have been intentionally overlooked for as long as they have in the middle of a season is the solution. If Glasnow's injury was indeed caused by having to change his grip during the season, how many other top pitchers are at risk for the same? I don't see how that benefits MLB, the owners, the players, the fans, etc. in any aspect, financially, as entertainment, or otherwise, if multiple top pitchers start going down. Poor, or lack of, communication between MLB and the player's union, perhaps due to the expiration of their collective bargaining agreement at the end of the year. It's the same general trend as we see in society as a whole though. Just talk to each other!
 
78pike

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GTNavyNuke said:
No reason to be annoyed. MLB, NBA and NFL are simply entertainment and financial enterprises. Each side (owners and players) will respond in a way that they think optimizes their short and long term profitability.

I'd like to say cycling with much less money is better, but there are too many syringes and blood bags in the closet to go there.
Click to expand...
To me personally it feels like the major sports have gone the way of professional wrestling where it is about the almighty entertainment dollar and no longer about the purity of sport. As a kid growing up we all knew that wrestling wasn't "real" and held on to the belief that traditional sports were governed by a set of rules that all had to be followed. Slowly that pipe dream burst. For me it started with the NBA where it became obvious that the stars of the game could travel, push off to get a shot (see Jordan's game winning shot against the Cavs), etc. The traditional rules didn't apply to the superstars. Then came the debacle of MLB with the steroids where one year Barry Bonds was a skinny slugger and the following year he looked like the Hulk....the Nature Boy of baseball. Of course Sammy Sosa and Mark McGuire took that to a complete new level. Finally college sports and their "pay for play" status complete the disillusionment of modern day sports. Despite all of that, I will continue to root hard for the Yellow Jackets and try to ignore all the hypocrisy and cheating that dominate all of the sports. I may be naive but I would like to believe that we won't stoop to those levels. God forbid we be like UNC football and cheat like hell for years and still suck...until Mack got there and showed them how to cheat the right way.
 
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