The 30 Greatest Sports Conspiracy Theories of All-Time - Elliott Kalb [67]
It was a cold night, and a clump of dirt wouldn’t necessarily have helped him grip the ball better. But pine-tar, mixed in the clump of dirt, would have. Dirt is part of the playing field, and therefore not technically a foreign substance. Two things make me suspicious. First, Rogers was seen with a similar clump of dirt (in virtually identical spots) in his earlier divisional series start. And Rogers had been one of the worst postseason pitchers in history, allowing twenty earned runs in his twenty postseason innings prior to 2006. Remember, conspiracy theories suggest that dramatic events happen not by accident, but because of other secretive reasons.
But opposing manager Tony LaRussa didn’t make a big deal out of Rogers dirty hands, preferring to wash his own of the mess. “A guy pitches like that,” LaRussa said, “we as a team don’t want to take anything away from him.” Yeah, Tony, we wouldn’t want to take away anything a cheater does in baseball. This quote was taken from the same man that managed both Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire in their bulked-up, “Bash Brothers” days.
According to rule 8.02(a)(2), (4) and (5), the pitcher shall not:
(2) expectorate on the ball, either hand, or his glove;
(4) apply a foreign substance of any kind to the ball; [or]
(5) deface the ball in any manner.
According to the penalties set forth in the Official Baseball Rules, “For violation of any part of Rules 8.02(a)(2) through (6): (a),the pitcher shall be ejected immediately from the game and shall be suspended automatically for ten games.” However, in reading the penalties further, the umpires can decide that the pitcher did not intend by his act to alter the characteristics of a pitched ball. And then it would be up to the umpire’s discretion to just warn the pitcher in lieu of applying a harsh penalty.
This is akin to a parent telling a youngster that if he’s caught with something bad, he’s going to be grounded immediately—unless, of course, there’s a big family outing or event, in which case the child will be warned to just cut it out. Rogers was told to wash his hands, and Major League Baseball avoided the embarrassment of having to impose a suspension.
Let me just say one more thing about Kenny Rogers. He didn’t pitch again in the 2006 World Series (although he was slated to start if the Series had continued on to another game). On March 30, 2007, it was reported that Rogers would miss the first three months of the season following surgery to repair a blood clot in his pitching shoulder. He made his first appearance of the season on June 22, in the Tigers’ 71st game of the season. I have no evidence of a suspension, but the timing of the surgery and the announcement surprises me.
CONCLUSION:
#15
The steroids era in baseball
Labor strife in baseball led to the cancellation of the 1994 postseason, and the beginning of the 1995 season was shortened and scarred as well. In 1996, when Major League Baseball played a full season for the first time since 1993, it was crucial for baseball to win back its fans at a time when too many had adopted a “pox on both their houses” attitude and vowed to stay away.
Here’s what happened in that 1996 season that should have sounded alarms and bells and sprung investigations, indignations, and congressional hearings: Major Leaguers began hitting more and longer home runs than ever before. A player named Brady Anderson hit fifty home runs for the Baltimore Orioles. Anderson had played eight previous seasons in the Major Leagues, and had only once hit as many as twenty-one homers. How could this nondescript leadoff batter fashion the only 14 season in Major League history of 50+ home runs, especially coming off a season in which he only slugged sixteen?
There were other home-run hitters who were hitting balls out of