was he the guy that was averaging crazy strikeouts per game then the first game after they started enforcement he had like none or two? and hardly threw any curveballs the whole game?
He’s the guy they asked if he has ever used spider tack and he started stuttering and saying uhh ummm and it just looked really bad. Then the next game his pitches just didn’t look the same.
What I don’t understand is how they manage to throw the ball if that stuff is so sticky.
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Being from Australia I wasn’t aware of this technique.
So it’s just some glue so your fingers get a better grip to be able to spin the ball ? I can see how that wouldn’t be allowed.
In cricket they shine one side of the ball ( allowed) and rough up the other side ( allowed ) with their thumb nail. Some people have been busted with bottle caps in their pocket they were using to rough up the ball with and gotten in a bit of shit ( fully not allowed).
Do pitcher’s do this as well ? Or dose the seam on a baseball not lend itself to this kind of technique ?
I’m kind of surprised I’ve never heard of glue being used in cricket. I’d imagine it would help , especially for a spin bowler.
So is congress going to get involved this time?
There is a 15 or so min vid on Trevor Bauers YouTube that is good about this sticky stuff subject. He goes over what MLB did right and what MLB did wrong in the situation. One his big points is guys will start getting injured. They have been preparing using the sticky stuff for months and their bodies are used to the grip it takes to hold a ball with it. You take that away and guys are now gripping the ball harder which leads to changing their throwing motion. When you are throwing that hard small changes can cause big issues. He also said you will see guys start to have ligament injuries in their fingers due to the grip change.
He has another video where he shows that just with rosin and sweat he can make a ball hang from his flat hand. Mlb hasn’t defined what is sticky so if a guy uses rosin and gets sweat on his hand is he now going to be suspended since it’s basically a judgement call by the umps. There is no set rules for what is sticky and what isn’t sticky.
Yes pitchers used to rough the ball up with files and even put globs of stuff on the ball to throw of it’s center of gravity so it doesn’t spin as a normal ball would.
The way MLB preps balls is part of the problem. They pack every ball with mud to add moisture to the ball so it has some tack. Well you may get a ball that was packed with mud yesterday so it’s good. But you may get a ball that’s been sitting in a bag for 3 weeks and what does mud do after all the moisture leaves it? It turns into a chalky dusty substance. So not only are you using a ball that doesn’t have any tack to it but you are using a slick ball with dust all over it making it more slippery. Mlb needs to put a little tack on the ball in a regulated way and this ends a big part of the issue.
https://youtube.com/shorts/v30VZ3j92Pw
This is just sweat and rosin. So he’s just using what his body naturally produces and what he’s provided on the back of the mound. Will he be suspended for that? Who knows since they’ve made it a judgement call. If an ump felt his hands they’d say he was using sticky stuff but he’s just using the things he’s provided.
The gloves that NFL receivers use are sticky as hell. The hand fighting at the line feel like it’s pulling the hairs off your arm.
They are very sticky. I used to wear them when I delivered 5 gal water jugs. I could palm an empty 5 gal water jug with them they are so sticky. Those things are huge compared to hands and it comes no where close to wrapping around it. Basically i was holding them up with a flat hand.
This is the stuff you will see on pitchers arms if you really pay attention. You will see a little shiney patch on their skin that they keep touching
dont the goves receivers wear have the sticky tacky stuff on them as well?
the hitters have been using pine tar on the bats forever to keep their hands from flying off… why cant the pitchers use the same thing?
seems kind of weird
Just fix the damn ball and make it uniform for everyone. Baseball needs to evolve out of the 1900s
Pine tar has also been used often because of plausible deniability.
“Oh that tar on the ball? That was from the bat!”
If a ball gets a scuff on it they throw it out. Any pitch that touches the dirt gets thrown out.
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the umps used to scuff up the balls prior to the game…
They no longer do this
you’re right though… pitches in the dirt get tossed, but a hit ball that goes through the infield stays in play doesnt it?
seems weird
Good summary of the whole thing:
