It's been a while since we've had a good "juiced ball" controversy and now it's back. I don't want these to grab my attention, but when our ace is attached to the story I can't help but pay attention. Question is....should we pay more attention or just laugh it off?
Last March, the Los Angeles Angeles fired then visiting clubhouse manager Brian "Bubba" Harkins who now claims he was unfairly made to be the scapegoat for giving players juiced balls. Now, he's talking about it and dropping names, The Los Angeles Times broke the story HERE and named other pitchers involved, but this text exchange with Gerrit Cole was submitted as part of Harkins case that was heard by the Orange County Superior Court:
"Hey Bubba, it’s Gerrit Cole, I was wondering if you could help me out with this sticky situation,” the pitcher wrote, adding a wink emoji. “We don’t see you until May, but we have some road games in April that are in cold weather places. The stuff I had last year seizes up when it gets cold.”
The text sounds bad especially without digging deeper, but how bad? Should this be a big deal? It may not make Cole look good but Harkins isn't exactly innocent here. Harkins was fired after the Angels found out he was giving pitchers balls that had an illegal blend of rosin and pine tar, which is a violation of a rule that had never been strictly enforced. It had to be bad enough that the Angels felt it justified firing a nearly 40 year employee. So I guess it's no surprise that the courts dismissed the case in light of whatever documentation the Angels had on him. It just sucks that this guy got away with it for however long he did and then tried to tarnish the names of other players after he was terminated.
I wish Cole's name wasn't attached to this and I hate that Harkins is trying to portray himself as a victim here. If these balls were doctored in any way hitters would have complained if it as affecting the pitches in any shape or form. Umpires also exam these balls throughout the game so if a substance was coming off of these balls it's hard to imagine that they wouldn't notice it.
Nothing to see here, just a bitter employee with an accusation that doesn't stick. Get it?
Tempest in a teapot, that's gonna turn into a volcano about nothing. There's so much to write about with baseball, our “modest little game that knows its place” (Fay Vincent). My bet is we won't see your fair reportage of this story anywhere else. Why baseball journalists beat dead horses so has always bored me. Fire example, the coverage of the juice scandals caused more harm than good, as we watched baseball writers compete to treat Jose Canseco to dinner to turn his innuendos and outright lies into back cover headlines that bored the average fan.
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