No one did the spitter better than
Gaylord Perry and I grew up watching it and it was glorious. But it’s also illegal in Major League
Baseball these days... or so we thought. Lately I guess Bud Selig has done his best not answering questions about steroid allegations pinned on players, and trying to decide whether there should be more cameras on the field for instant replay or whether or not we
should have another few expansion teams or even extend the playoffs until December. I am kidding about most of that, but the point
is it’s clear that with all the cameras already in a stadium at any given game, it makes no sense that nothing is being done to reprimand pitchers who openly gob on the baseball.
We saw it last year when Jose Valverde put a nice
goober on the ball in front of the world, that one was ignored. Now, we see
Alex Sanabia spitting on the baseball as clear as day and trust me... everyone saw it! Again though, nothing is being done to him.
According to the crew chief the night of the "spitting" incident, They didn't see it happen when the goober was put on the ball, but later in the game, they "did order Sanabia to discard another ball for improperly going to his mouth." (Read HERE) So in other words, everyone saw the spitter take place except for the umpires, the guys running the field. I mean seriously, what are we doing here?
But Jesus Christ, hasn't the man who was nicknamed “Charlie Hustle”
been tortured enough? I grew up in the
1970’s, Rose WAS baseball. But yeah,
he’s banned from the game, now 22 years ago, and spitting on the ball , something called illegal in the 1920's doesn’t even get you a fine these days, even when there's proof of it, like
in the case of Alex Sanabia the other night.
Now you know where I stand on the spitter, or
maybe you don’t. My point on the spitter is clear and sure, these are my own rules, but to me it makes sense.
If you do the spitter and no one knows, AND, it’s spit and not Vaseline or Pine-tar or sunscreen or horse crap, do it. But, do not:
- A) Spit on the ball in public
- B) Make it obvious.
(In Photo: Gaylord Perry)
Silly I know, but that's how I feel about it. Spitters have been
around forever and sure, we can get into the gray area of who actually used
spit and who actually didn’t, but it’s part of the "old school" game that I
love. All I’m saying is, keep it partially honest,
spit on your hand and grease up the laces.
That’s just good old baseball. Standing on the mound goobing on the baseball is ridiculous. Sticking Vaseline in the baseball red is terrible. Alittle spit that no one sees, well, that never hurt anyone. Seriously, if you're out there making it obvious, you’re stupid and I have no
sympathy for you. You should be
fined.
Furthermore, I found it mind-blowing that Major
League Baseball didn’t do more with Clay Buchholz a few weeks ago. It was clear
there was something illegal going on, from my point of view at least. But they
let it go, never did an investigation and it all ended. All that does is make desperate pitchers more
daring, hence, Alex Sanabia. What the
hell is he thinking? And will MLB look into this? Probably not.
Message to Selig… OK, so you don’t want
to fine anyone for the spitter, than take it out of the rule book. Hey, and while
we’re at it, set Pete Rose free! It’s time he be eligible to be voted into the Hall of Fame.
It’s clear to me you make your own rules regardless of the ones written… oh,
and the steroids stuff? That’s another post for another time, but in case you
want a nice read on the topic, check out PEDs...AND WHAT SHOULD COME NEXT.
Enjoy your Friday everyone.
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