Friday, April 25, 2014

Pitchers rubbing the ball to loosen the stitches: cheating?

After the Micheal Pineda incident former pitcher Bob Ojeda confirmed something that I had long suspected: some pitchers rub the ball very hard in an attempt to loosen the stitches.  Ojeda suggested that was a form of cheating.

It's difficult to imagine that they would not succeed at least some of the time.  Result: less lively ball with more erratic movement.

Who hasn't wondered that?  Why hasn't the league banned rubbing the ball?  What purpose does it serve other than loosening the stitches or some other objective to help the pitcher?  Making the ball dirtier, smearing something into the cover, ...

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