http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/news/mlb_news.jsp?ymd=20030603&content_id=353267&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb


CHICAGO -- Chicago Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa was ejected from Tuesday night's game because he was believed to have cork in his bat.
The Cubs had runners at second and third with one out in the first inning against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Sosa grounded out to second base, driving in a run. His bat split upon impact and home plate umpire Tim McClelland picked up the broken half. He called the other three umpires over to examine it.

The umpires then showed the bat fragment to Cubs manager Dusty Baker and then third base umpire Lance Barksdale took the shattered bat into the umpires' room.

The runners were sent back to the bases.

McClelland told official scorer Bob Rosenberg that Sosa was ejected because he had cork in his bat. Sosa did not come out and argue the call.

Sosa entered the game batting .285 and was playing his fourth game since being activated from the disabled list.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The only thing I can say about this is that I am very shocked.

This doesn't surprise me at all. As soon as I heard this news, the first thing that popped into my head was, it's about time one of these 60+ homerun hitters got caught. The only thing that surprises me is that this didn't happen sooner. Iv'e always found it incredibly suspicious how for so many years, Roger Marris's homerun record was untouched, and now within five years it has been broken three times. Why was it untouched for 30 or 40 years, and now within 5 years it's been broken three times? Definitely not a coincidence in my eyes. I'm not going to start making accusations or anything, but I have a feeling there are many more people who are corking their bats, and bulking up on illegal substances. Hopefully all the other players who partake in this will learn a lesson from Sammy, and stop.

I accidently hit quote instead of edit. Sorry.

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/PHOTOFILE/AACM031.jpg

Ok this may sound like a dumb question but how does having cork in your bat make it wrong???

Having cork in your batmakes your swing quicker and helps the ball travel further.



I'm really shocked by this. He has an interesting excuse, but I don't know what to believe. I'll wait and see what MLB turns up about all his other bats. It's sad it happened to Sammy, because everyone kinda sees him as this trustworthy type guy, but this just blew it I think.

We'll just have to wait and see...









ks

thx for explaning :)

they should have bat inspection...

or maybe even give out bats that they know are real wood bats

just an idea:crazy:

I wonder if the cork was in there during all of his home runs.

i heard this on the news earlier

"say it ain't Sosa" :lol:

I hope he was set up cause I really like him!

not a prob




CNN has been covering this story all day. I didn't realize it would be such a big idea outside ESPN and FOXSPORTS.










ks

Some Quotes about this whole ordeal:
http://www.foxnews.com/images/92452/6_23_060403_sosa.jpg
"It's going to be tough. Some fans are probably not too happy about it," Sosa said. "I've got to deal with that. ... I know that I lost the fans and they have been great to me. It's a mistake, and I take the blame for it."

"Just to put on a show for the fans. I like to make people happy and I do that in batting practice," he said.

"I was just trying to get ready and go out there and get ready for the game, and I just picked the wrong bat. I feel sorry. I just apologize to everybody."


"Deep down in my heart, I truly believe Sammy didn't know that was in there," Cubs manager Dusty Baker said. "But I just hope that this event, whatever it was, doesn't tarnish his career or take away all that Sammy Sosa's done. For baseball and for Chicago."


"Unfortunately, it's a dirty mark, when you consider all he's accomplished," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "It's really unfortunate for the game. Everybody's scratching their heads right now. ... It's embarrassing. He's too good of a player. It's too bad."
http://www.foxnews.com/images/92452/2_21_060303_sammy_sosa_cork.jpg

I really don't think Sammy did it

Originally posted by *~PinkLady59~*
I wonder if the cork was in there during all of his home runs.

That question will be dogging Mr. Sosa for the rest of his life, I fear.

Personally, I don't buy the "I use it for batting practice" excuse.

Corked Bats are ILLEGAL! You shouldn't have one, period!

Originally posted by mdntrider7
Iv'e always found it incredibly suspicious how for so many years, Roger Marris's homerun record was untouched, and now within five years it has been broken three times. Why was it untouched for 30 or 40 years, and now within 5 years it's been broken three times? Definitely not a coincidence in my eyes


This was talked about in a conspiracy zone episode actully.. they took a look inside baseballs from today and from before the baseball strike in 94 and how homeruns increased 25% from 94 to 95 or something like that...

God he's stupid. That's why I hate the Cubs. Go Sox.

Physicists Downplay Effect on Power With Corked Bat

By DONNA TOMMELLEO
The Associated Press

The boost a slugger gets from a corked bat is highly overrated. In fact, experts on the physics of baseball say such bats reduce a hitter's power.

"You have a slightly lighter bat and you're going to hit the ball a little less far,'' said retired Yale professor Robert K. Adair, the author of 'Physics of Baseball.'

The science and practice of corking bats is under new scrutiny following the ejection of Sammy Sosa from Tuesday night's game between the Chicago Cubs and Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Adair contends a corked bat actually may reduce by about three feet what would have been a 375-foot drive from a conventional wooden bat. While corked bats can increase bat speed and improve timing, he believes the benefits are minimal.

"This is not something that radically changes the game,'' Adair said Wednesday. "There's probably more superstition involved.

"You may hit the fastball a little more often. It's so marginal.''

A study at the Baseball Research Center at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell found the speed of corked bats increased just more than 1 mph, or about 1 percent.

Sosa, who has 505 career homers, was the sixth major leaguer to be disciplined for a corked bat since 1987. He said he accidentally used a bat intended for batting practice. His bat broke in half when he hit a ground ball in the first inning of the Cubs' 3-2 win.

Alan Nathan, a physics professor at the University of Illinois, also played down the benefits a long-ball hitter can derive from a corked bat.

"If your goal in life is to hit home runs, then I don't think a corked bat is going to help you too much,'' said Nathan, who has published studies on the subject. "On the other hand, if you're sort of a contact hitter, a singles hitter, then a corked bat probably can help you.''

A quicker swing means a batter can watch the ball longer before taking a cut.

"The longer you watch it, the more information you have as to how you want to swing at it,'' Nathan said.

Adair said the standard way for players to cork a bat is to drill a hole about six inches down the length of the bat and add cork, high-bouncing rubber balls or "whatever their fancy is.'' Sosa's bat contained a half-dollar size piece of cork about halfway down the barrel.

Baseball players are famously superstitious, and if a player succeeds with a corked bat once, he is apt to use it again. Also, the reputation of corked bats have a strong hold on players looking for an advantage.

"Let's say you're expected to hit about .250 and about June 4 you're batting .205,'' Adair said. "Your timing is off, you can't seem to hit and you see your $2 million going out the window. You take an ounce off the bat and maybe it makes a difference.''

06/04/03 15:56 EDT

Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

Does anyone believe Sammy's story that the corked bat was one he used only in practice? Since cork wasn't in any of his other bats, I believe it...pretty much.

The New York Daily News today printed a step by step diagram demonstating how to "cork" a bat.

Something educational for the kids out there...


Look Ma! I'm hitting just like Sammy Sosa!

;)

Originally posted by*~PinkLady59~*

Does anyone believe Sammy's story that the corked bat was one he used only in practice? Since cork wasn't in any of his other bats, I believe it...pretty much.

I don't. He only needs one bat to be corked. And one is one too many. He shouldn't have been "goofying" with it in the first place.

Originally posted by TJL
The New York Daily News today printed a step by step diagram demonstating how to "cork" a bat.

Something educational for the kids out there...


Look Ma! I'm hitting just like Sammy Sosa!

;)

:lol:

Originally posted by *~PinkLady59~*
Does anyone believe Sammy's story that the corked bat was one he used only in practice? Since cork wasn't in any of his other bats, I believe it...pretty much.

I don't believe Sammy's explanation for a few reasons. Number 1, like Cashodeen said if you're using a corked bat, you only need one. I don't think anybody would be stupid enough to carry around 76 corked bats. If I was going to cheat, (Which I wouldn't) I would have one corked bat, and have 76 more as a disguise. No way I'd be carrying around 76 more that could get me into deeper trouble. Also for all we know he may have more corked ones at home. My second problem with Sammy's story is if he has 76 bats to choose from, what were the odds of him accidentaly grabbing the one corked one? That would have to be one heck of a coincidence to grab the one altered bat out of 76. My third reason for not buying his story is that Sammy himself said he used the altered bat in batting practice all the time, so if he really did grab it on accident, wouldn't he have been able to tell that there was something different about it? Those are my problems with his story.

Did any of you hear Jose Canseco on ESPN saying that the media is being racist to Sammy, and if this happened to a white player it wouldn't be an issue? That has got to be the stupidest statement I ever heard. What about all the white pitchers who were caught putting stuff on, and in the ball to make it go faster? The media was just as hard on them as they're being on Sammy, and some of them still aren't living it down to this very day. And what about Pete Rose. He is one of the greatest players of all time, yet everytime his name is brought up the only thing anyone ever talks about is how he gambled on games. Nevermind the fact that he has more hits than anyone in baseball history. And of course you can't forget good old Bill Buckner. All he did was make one mistake, and because of it, despite all his achievements, he has been made a joke of, and the only thing he'll ever be remembered for in his baseball career is letting the ball go through his legs in the World Series. Personally I don't see how anybody can bring race into this issue. The fact is Sammy was caught cheating, and now he's paying for it, PERIOD! I personally don't believe race has anything to do with it. What do you all think of the whole racism theory?

Sammy will be banned for 8 games but not immediately

Poor Sammy... I hope he can get over this

hmmm....

COULD IT BE:

OR IS IT THE ONE ON THE LEFT?

NO- HERE HE IS, NEWLEY DUBBED, LYING HIS ASS OFF, YOUR NEW OFFICIAL "CORKY"

shame on you sammy :nonono:

Originally posted by dlemond
NO- HERE HE IS, NEWLEY DUBBED, LYING HIS ASS OFF, YOUR NEW OFFICIAL "CORKY"
Funny dlemond :rotflmao:

More corks...

Originally posted by mdntrider7
Personally I don't see how anybody can bring race into this issue. The fact is Sammy was caught cheating, and now he's paying for it, PERIOD! I personally don't believe race has anything to do with it. What do you all think of the whole racism theory?

There is no way racism is involved here.
The reason Sammy Sosa is being raked over the coals is because he holds a few major league records because of all the home runs he has hit in his career. It's not like this is some second baseman who hits fifteen homers a season, and corks his bat to get a little more power, Sosa's claim to fame is home runs!

The idea that Sosa quite possibly has been cheating all this time is why this is a hot topic, not racism.

Originally posted by TJL


There is no way racism is involved here.
The reason Sammy Sosa is being raked over the coals is because he holds a few major league records because of all the home runs he has hit in his career. It's not like this is some second baseman who hits fifteen homers a season, and corks his bat to get a little more power, Sosa's claim to fame is home runs!

The idea that Sosa quite possibly has been cheating all this time is why this is a hot topic, not racism.


Amen to that! I was disappointed to see that Gary Sheffield believed racism had something to do with it as well. I agree wtih you, it's not because of the guys race, it's because of his claim to fame. Has it been a false claim all along?









ks

Originally posted by mdntrider7
Personally I don't see how anybody can bring race into this issue. The fact is Sammy was caught cheating, and now he's paying for it, PERIOD! I personally don't believe race has anything to do with it. What do you all think of the whole racism theory?

What do I think of this theory? Caseco is clearly talking out of his ass. Crazy fool.

Originally poste TJL
There is no way racism is involved here.
The reason Sammy Sosa is being raked over the coals is because he holds a few major league records because of all the home runs he has hit in his career. It's not like this is some second baseman who hits fifteen homers a season, and corks his bat to get a little more power, Sosa's claim to fame is home runs!

The idea that Sosa quite possibly has been cheating all this time is why this is a hot topic, not racism.

UH HUH. My thoughts exactly. When TJL isn't being hilarious with his other posts, he is making perfect sense. I love it.

And Mr. I'm-only-famous-because-I-can-hit-homeruns-except-I've-never-even-been-good-enough-with-that-because-someone-always-beats-me HAS most likely been cheating the whole time. Or maybe I'm wrong--Has he ever been numero uno in homeruns for a season? See, I don't even know. That's how important homeruns are to me. It's utter bs. I cheered when Griffey left our team. That way the REAL things about good baseball could be focused on. Homeruns get you nowhere.

:wave:

Sosa's Corked Bat Fiasco Should Be Lesson to All
Canseco, Pedro, Sheffield Out of Line

By JOHN FEINSTEIN


Sammy Sosa cheated.

That's the simplest headline to put on the story that has dominated sports talk for the past week.

There are some -- notably here in Chicago where the start of the U.S. Open golf championship this Thursday has been completely overshadowed by Sosa's bat and the presence of the New York Yankees -- who absolutely believe Sosa's story: he didn't realize the bat was corked; he only uses it in batting practice and in home run-hitting contests and he would never knowingly use a corked bat.

There are others who think Sosa is undoubtedly a serial cheater, that all 505 of his home runs are tainted and he should go into the Hall of Fame only after Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson -- if then.

As is almost always the case, the truth almost certainly lies somewhere in the middle.

A great hitter like Sosa isn't likely to not be able to feel the difference between a corked bat and an uncorked bat. A desperate hitter -- Sosa had one home run and 33 strikeouts in 80 at-bats since a frightening beaning April 20, not to mention a stint on the DL because of a painful toe injury -- might very well think that a corked bat could be the answer to a prolonged slump.

The notion that a frustrated, slumping Sosa, after nailing a few batting practice fastballs with the corked bat decided to take a couple swings with it against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays is absolutely believable. Does that mean, as some have suggested, that he has let down every little kid in America, disgraced his country and will spend the rest of his life having little kids come up to him pleading, "Say it ain't so Sammy?"

Of course not. The eight-game suspension handed down by Major League Baseball is probably about right. He cheated. He got caught. In all likelihood he knowingly cheated but there's no way to definitively prove that.

Sosa deserves points for facing the media the night of the incident and for admitting he made a mistake, even if his story about how the corked bat got out there might splinter on contact the way the bat did.

What did people expect him to say: "Yeah, I did it, I knew exactly what I was doing and right now every other corked bat I own is in Lake Michigan?"

Sosa's defenders have complained that the media went over the top, blew the story out of proportion. Let's not even discuss Jose Canseco, Pedro Martinez and Gary Sheffield trying to claim this is some kind of anti-Hispanic or anti-minority conspiracy in the media.

Please. If Sammy Sosa is not the biggest star in baseball today, he's second or third. No lower. He was part of one of the two true feel-good stories baseball has had in the last 20 years: Sosa/McGwire in 1998 and Cal Ripken Jr. in 1995. They are 1-2 or 2-1. Nothing else is in the conversation.

What's more, Sosa is seen not just as a great player, but as a heroic figure. This isn't Albert Belle getting caught corking. Belle was as bad a guy as the game has ever seen and couldn't fall from grace because he never got to that point. Joe Niekro scuffs a ball. Who cares? In the grand pantheon of the sport, Joe Niekro is nobody.

Sosa is a first ballot Hall of Famer, a guy who is going to hit at least 600 home runs, and one of those names that transcends the sport. People who don't know a thing about baseball know who Sammy Sosa is. So, when he gets caught cheating, it is a huge story. If someone catches Tiger Woods dropping a ball in the rough at the U.S. Open this week, it's a bigger story than Sosa corking a bat. But not THAT much bigger.

Did ESPN go too far with wall-to-wall Sammy coverage? Sure, but for better or worse, that's what ESPN does. It is the ALL sports network and Sosa was just about all of sports there for a couple of days.

If you want to criticize them for something (and who among us doesn't want to do that?), criticize them for giving Canseco a platform to spew his moronic comments. Good God, why would anyone care what Canseco thinks about anything at this point in time? Martinez and Sheffield are, at least, credible people, they're just wrong on this one.

Have Martinez and Sheffield forgotten the uproar about McGwire's use of androstenedione? A lot of media members wondered if all HIS homers were tainted because of his use of the supplement. He had to answer questions about it for weeks. And the drug was NOT illegal or against the rules of Major League Baseball. Maybe it should have been (maybe MLB's drug policies then and now are an out-and-out joke, but that's another column entirely), but it wasn't.

Trust me, if Cal Ripken ever got caught corking a bat, it would be a bigger story than this was because Ripken was this generation's Lou Gehrig and who has ever been put on a higher pedestal of goodness than Gehrig.

We're talking a guy who made his mark as a marketer selling milk. It would not be a bigger story because Ripken is white, it would be a bigger story because Ripken is Ripken. And this was a gigantic story because Sammy is Sammy, one of those first name athletes who was placed on a pedestal by the media and the public in '98 -- probably a higher one than McGwire by the way because of his outgoing personality -- and now has tarnished that pedestal a little bit with this foolish act.

Sosa's going to have to live with this for the rest of his career. He's going to hear about it on the road and it is going to be brought up to him over and over again; this year and down the road. When they do the documentary on his life, this incident gets several minutes.

Does that mean all his home runs are tarnished and little kids should throw away their Sosa jerseys?

No.

If Sosa were a serial corker, he'd have been caught long before now. This was not the first bat he's broken in his career. Sosa will remain one of the game's great stars and he will be in the Hall of Fame someday. The good news is, if he has corked a bat more than once, he isn't likely to ever do it again.

The walls of baseball aren't going to tumble down because Sammy Sosa corked a bat. But the game took another hit because he did, and to try to make the media or anyone else the fall guy for what happened is wrong. Sosa made a mistake.

He's says he's sorry and, once he has served his suspension, all the yammering should stop and the best baseball season seen on the northside since 1998 -- perhaps since 1989 -- can continue.

If you are a baseball fan, you should want Sosa to start hitting home runs again because the game is better when he's doing that little hop leaving home plate as a baseball he has just hit leaves the park.

At the same time, if Major League Baseball and the union can't get together on the issue of random drug testing, is there any reason why they can't at least do random bat checking?

Send people into clubhouses unannounced at the end of a game and collect all the bats. Test them, then return them in time for the next day's game.

If Sosa getting caught doesn't make players think twice about corking, that certainly should. Baseball refuses to deal with its drug issue, maybe it can at least deal with the corking issue. There's no excuse not to.

And, as we found out last week, every reason to do so -- not down the road. Not soon. Now.


John Feinstein's column appears every Tuesday, exclusively on AOL Sports.

John Feinstein's new book, 'Open--Inside The Ropes at Bethpage Black,' is now on sale at bookstores and online.

Originally posted by *~PinkLady59~*
Does anyone believe Sammy's story that the corked bat was one he used only in practice? Since cork wasn't in any of his other bats, I believe it...pretty much. Sammy has a lot of bats. If the bat wreckers would have found cork in any one of the bats that they wrecked looking for cork it would be a slam dunk Sammy down the shute of infamy. So why isn't a slam dunk Sammy up the at least pending a skatalywog of evidence shute since he curently ain't guilty? They didn't find cork in any of his bats! What have you done for me lately?

Someone asked me what I meant by my previous comment about Sammy and the bats. So could be that others were confused by my comments. All of Sammy's bats that were tested after the accusation came up negative. Thus--in my opinion--they should drop ther accusation and get off the man's back and pronto. The funny thing about this is that it is not in "the best interest of baseball. In "real life" a man/woman is innocent until proven guilty. Baseball depends for its income partly on the integrity of its players. What is the point of demolishing one extremely popular players reputation when baseball isn't sure of the case. They should be standing up for the American way and give Sammy what he deserves until proven otherwise.

Originally posted by Kitt
Someone asked me what I meant by my previous comment about Sammy and the bats. So could be that others were confused by my comments. All of Sammy's bats that were tested after the accusation came up negative. Thus--in my opinion--they should drop ther accusation and get off the man's back and pronto. The funny thing about this is that it is not in "the best interest of baseball. In "real life" a man/woman is innocent until proven guilty. Baseball depends for its income partly on the integrity of its players. What is the point of demolishing one extremely popular players reputation when baseball isn't sure of the case. They should be standing up for the American way and give Sammy what he deserves until proven otherwise.

Thanks for posting a follow-up. I heard they tested all the other bats that came back negative after my previous post that I thought he'd been doing it for a long time. Things are looking better for him knowing that only one of his bats was corked. Of course the media still lays into him. We'll never exactly know what the deal is. Did he really do it by accident, or was he trying to start a new trend by batting with a corked bat? The fact that he has been a homerun hitting machine, makes it look fishy. I never care much for the power hitters anyhow, so I couldn't care less about his deal. I won't look at him any differently. Hopefully this won't taint is career in the past or present.

Yeah, but the guy still played with a corked bat. It's against the rules of the game, so I'm glad they gave him some sort of punishment for his infraction.

Originally posted by TJL
Yeah, but the guy still played with a corked bat. It's against the rules of the game, so I'm glad they gave him some sort of punishment for his infraction. But that's not the point. I'll admit that I haven't spent my time istening to fire ball Jim Rome play the game of sports loud mouth know-it-all, but if Sammy was not guilty of purposely coming to the plate with a corked bat, then why would you be glad that he was punished? Punished for what? Being set up?

originally posted by Kitt
But that's not the point. I'll admit that I haven't spent my time istening to fire ball Jim Rome play the game of sports loud mouth know-it-all, but if Sammy was not guilty of purposely coming to the plate with a corked bat, then why would you be glad that he was punished? Punished for what? Being set up?

Whoa, whoa, whoa, run that by me again. What is this about him "being set up?"

Originally posted by Cashodeen
Whoa, whoa, whoa, run that by me again. What is this about him "being set up?" I saw Jose Conseco the other day talking about this. He said that if Sammy was a white player (Mark) this would never have gotten this far. So, that may or may not be true. But, a man has twenty something bats. They're all tested after the fact of the at bat and turn up negative. One has to wonder how it is that one in twenty something bats just happened to be the one he used at the at bat in question.

Originally posted by Kitt
I saw Jose Conseco the other day talking about this. He said that if Sammy was a white player (Mark) this would never have gotten this far. So, that may or may not be true. But, a man has twenty something bats. They're all tested after the fact of the at bat and turn up negative. One has to wonder how it is that one in twenty something bats just happened to be the one he used at the at bat in question.

:rotflmao: Refer back to the first page of this thread where Jose Conseco came into the story. I think TJL summed it up.

So you're insinuating that this corked bat was planted? Have you been following this story at all? Sammy said he picked up the corked bat on accident because he goofs around with it during batting practice.

Originally posted by Kitt
Sammy was not guilty of purposely coming to the plate with a corked bat, then why would you be glad that he was punished? Punished for what? Being set up?

Oh, so since he didn't mean to have that bat with him, that makes him immune to the rules of the game..

Set up?

You're on your own with this one Kitt...


;)

Originally posted by Cashodeen
:rotflmao: Refer back to the first page of this thread where Jose Conseco came into the story. I think TJL summed it up.

So you're insinuating that this corked bat was planted? Have you been following this story at all? Sammy said he picked up the corked bat on accident because he goofs around with it during batting practice. Not sure why you are rolling around on the floor. Is that because TJL spoke? You might also refer to the article that Janice posted. It has a bit more info then TJL had. If you insist on axeing Sammy as guilty of using a corked bat in the on deck circle, well then, I'm not sure what it is you're rolling on the floor laughing your ass off about. Because, frankly, that is not how you hit homeruns. You have to face the pitcher in the batter's box and then swing the bat at a one hundred mile an hour pitch.

"If your goal in life is to hit home runs, then I don't think a corked bat is going to help you too much,'' said Nathan, who has published studies on the subject. "On the other hand, if you're sort of a contact hitter, a singles hitter, then a corked bat probably can help you.''

That's a quote from what Janice posted from someonewho should know. Sammy is a pretty big boy; not "a contact hitter".

Originally posted by Kitt
Not sure why you are rolling around on the floor.

I think Cashodeen is laughing at your notion that Sammy Sosa is being set up.

Originally posted by TJL
Oh, so since he didn't mean to have that bat with him, that makes him immune to the rules of the game..

Set up?

You're on your own with this one Kitt...


;) Not saying he is ammuned to the rules of the game. He may well have walked to the plate with the bat he uses in the on deck circle. Which may or may have not been corked. But as the post above notes, he wouldn't do that on purpose because it wouldn't help him anyway. For example about the "rules of the game". Lets' take George Brett in the Royals Yankees Playoffs. Brett hit a potential game winning homerun in the very late innings of the game. Billy Martin stomped out to home plate and protested that the pinetar was above a legal length on his bat. Now, I would guess that Martin, and everyone else in baseball knew that Brett and about half of the other players in baseball had forever ignored that relatively useless rule. But Billy Martin held it in check until the most usefull moment he could ever possibly had called it on Brett. I would bet my bottom dollar that more than one of Martin's players had bats that nudged over the legal limit on the pine tar issue. So if you are saying that Sammy deserved what he got or if you're saying that someone wasn't aware that Sammy sometimes swung a corked bat in the on deck circle, and picked their moment to call him on it then we disagree. I think he was set up. Someone may well have picked his moment and brung the man down.

I am just amazed that a guy with Sammy's reputation would even have a corked bat in his collection. Whether he bats with it or uses it on the on deck circle, it's still pretty risky for a home run king to even have a corked bat anywhere near him.

And why the Hell would you use a corked bat in the on deck circle? I played ball when I was a kid, and you usually use two bats to get in a practice swing, but what is the advantage of using a corked bat to get in a few cuts before you hit?

Does having a corked bat make the air around you go further when you swing?

;)

Originally posted by TJL
I am just amazed that a guy with Sammy's reputation would even have a corked bat in his collection. Whether he bats with it or uses it on the on deck circle, it's still pretty risky for a home run king to even have a corked bat anywhere near him.

And why the Hell would you use a corked bat in the on deck circle? I played ball when I was a kid, and you usually use two bats to get in a practice swing, but what is the advantage of using a corked bat to get in a few cuts before you hit?

Does having a corked bat make the air around you go further when you swing?

;) I don't know, TJL. :) We'll have to let this one go for a few more innings and check the score in the bottom of the ninth. Hopefully, it won't go into extra innings. Yeah, I played even beyond being a kid (not that I'm still not a kid) and swung multiple bats on deck. But now days that on deck circle has all kinds of junk layig around it. So, heck, who knows if our kid stuff applies to the major leagues? It didn't much then, so why now? ;)

Originally posted by Kitt
"If your goal in life is to hit home runs, then I don't think a corked bat is going to help you too much,'' said Nathan, who has published studies on the subject. "On the other hand, if you're sort of a contact hitter, a singles hitter, then a corked bat probably can help you.''

I somewhat disagree with that study, because I have heard atleast three players admit to using corked bats during batting practice, and they all said that they were able to hit the ball much much further. They said there was an obvious difference. So when it comes to some guy who probably has never played MLB baseball doing a study, and the players who actually go out there and play everynight, I tend to believe the players.

As far as whether Sammy is guilty or not, I'm not totally sure. But here's what I do know. He was caught with a corked bat, and afterwards accepted full responsibility by admitting it was his. Therefore he obviously was not set up. Everyone who has been caught with cork in there bats have been punished, therefore I believe Sammy should have to pay for his mistake as well.

I do agree with you that some of the media is being far too harsh, but I don't agree with Jose Canseco's views that it is racially motivated. I have seen many cases just like this with white players, and as I said earlier they were all villified in the media just as much as Sammy, some moreso, so trying to make this a racial issue is quite a stretch in my view.

I could be full of beans on this one.;)

Yep, laughing because of the idea that Sammy was set up. I put refer back to TJL's post because that sums up why Canseco is off his rocker. I needed not refer back to any other post, like you said, because I still would say refer back to TJL's post that puts it very well.

I don't want to get into this anymore. I said, Sammy may have used it on purpose during his at-bat, he may not have. I don't think he should be using it in batting practice either, if that is in fact a true story. I said I just hope it won't taint his career in the past or present, and I meant that. But the setting up biz, and Canseco shooting off at the mouth is insane.

:wave:

Well, insane is a bit strong, lol. But like I said, what happened happened and whatever the outcome .... Sammy can take care of himself without my help.:lol: :wave: