The 30 Greatest Sports Conspiracy Theories of All-Time - Elliott Kalb [63]
Incredibly, Yarborough lost the chance to finish second when he rolled into the pits one lap too early, thinking the race had ended. Petty and Yarborough were so close heading into the decisive third and fourth turns that the winner said their cars actually touched two or three times.
Come on, now. A mental error by Yarborough, in which he thought the race was over, with one lap left to go? It seems odd, to say the least. After all, Yarborough and Petty had by far the strongest cars, linked up in a draft, and they built up a lengthy lead over the rest of the field. With thirty-seven laps remaining, Petty made his final pit stop, taking on right-side tires in 14.8 seconds. Yarborough pitted one lap later, and received left-side tires and gasoline in sixteen seconds. Yarborough caught Petty with twenty laps to go.
The two ran bumper to bumper in a thrilling conclusion. What a backdrop to set a historic milestone! There are many who think the race was just too perfect a set-up.
MY OPINION
Cale Yarborough had a strategy to win the race, but it proved to be unsuccessful because of the late caution. “I got beat at my own drafting game,” Yarborough said after the race. Intending to slingshot his way into victory, he didn’t anticipate the late caution flag. To me, this is like accepting the fact that Ali “forgot” that he had to go to a neutral corner after knocking out Sonny Liston. Great athletes are supposed to know their whereabouts—and their opponent’s—at all times, especially in the late stages of the biggest of matches. For almost any other race, I would have accepted Yarborough’s explanation, but I’m a little skeptical of this one.
CONCLUSION:
#14
Cheaters conspire to steal signs, throw illegal pitches, steal pennants
Everyone cheats sometimes. That’s just a simple fact. Average men and women, when they don’t exploit the cheating on a large scale, simply don’t get caught. If they are exposed, the punishment is often inconsequential. That is why—whether by exaggerating their deductions when filing taxes, omitting items on their resume, or getting out of speeding tickets by flirting with or currying favor with officers—people cheat all the time.
Of course, most people don’t consider their indiscretions to be very serious. Recent studies have shown that the percent of high school students who admit to cheating at least once is close to 75%. There is evidence that the desire to cheat—and the willingness to do so—has become the norm.
Baseball players and managers are the same way. For over a century, players have cheated (it’s called “gamesmanship,” for those who like to rationalize) a number of different ways.
On offense, batters have often been tipped off by teammates as to the type of pitch about to be thrown. On defense, pitchers have often doctored baseballs with foreign substances and throwing illegal pitches.
In the past, students cheated by copying answers off a friend’s paper, or by smuggling notes into class. In more recent times, they have surely used technology for less-than-virtuous means. Baseball, too, has had to stay ahead of technological cheaters, who have tilted the playing field with illegal drugs not previously available. To me, cheating is cheating, and this chapter will deal with the more traditional forms of cheating as they pertain to baseball: stealing signs and throwing illegal pitches. Another form of skullduggery is the corking of bats—using a substance other than wood, like cork—to make the bat lighter.
In a book about sports conspiracies, all the cheaters in baseball that were caught with corked bats get a free pass. The late Norm Cash batted .361 in 1961 with a bat that he drilled a hole in and filled up with sawdust and cork. Slugger Albert Belle was caught and suspended for seven games in 1994 because he used a corked bat. Graig Nettles and Amos Otis both reportedly used superballs (rubber