[madmax]

Originally posted by KSig RC
umm . . . are you kidding?

Cheating is as old as the sport - from Cobb's sharpened spikes to Gaylord Perry's vaseline under the cap to (LEGAL!!!!) use of androstenedione and other supplements, it's a PART of baseball. When you get caught, you serve the time - some guys scuff balls, some guys cork bats, and sometimes guys get caught.

And, yes - this happened in the DiMaggio era, too, that's where the idea was originated, and why it was made illegal a little later.

As for the bats - some guys have 20 dozen bats shipped at a time. Why cork more than one at a time? If it breaks, you're dicked - so because 72 bats were clean, that doesn't absolve him.

Now, they did saw open the bat purportedly used for homer number 498, and it was clean - as were scans of the 5 bats from his run w/ McGwire in Cooperstown. That just means those homers weren't hit with corked bats - in 8000 at-bats, do you really think this was the first time he stepped to the plate with a corked bat, whether it be intentionally or unintentionally? I don't really know, but it does lower my image of Sammy Sosa in that he did something illegal, and will now have to sit his 7 to 10 days for it. He cheated, got caught, and that's what happens.

Now - I COMPLETELY agree with those who question the need for corking a bat. Actual scientific studies have shown that corking a bat adds exactly zero distance to batted balls, under lab conditions - any increase is placebo effect or the like. It's moronic for him to have put himself in that position, even if it was "for the fans", because it's simply not something that works, period.

Also - why isn't anyone mad that Sosa uses BP as an "exhibition for the fans"? It's PRACTICE - shouldn't the essence of competition be based in practice? Shouldn't all the people who jumped AI's back about that stuff be on Sosa too? It reeks of a double standard to my mind.

The scientist that concluded that corking doesn't add distance is a moron. Corking does add distance. Why do you think Sosa was using the corked bat in the first place? Sosa essentually said it adds distance, when he admitted to using a corked bat to impress the fans at batting practice. Corking lightens the bat which allows the batter to generate greater bat speed which results in more distance. The cork itself does not increase the distance but the increased bat speed does increase the distance.