M.L.B. Will Analyze Spin Rate to Detect Ball Doctoring

In perhaps the most extreme example of baseball’s indulgence of the act, Gaylord Perry, a star right-hander, was so synonymous with the doctoring of balls that his 1974 autobiography was called “Me and the Spitter.” The confession did not derail him, as he continued to pitch until 1983, won 314 games and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991.

M.L.B. has recognized the need to improve the grip on baseballs in recent years, and has studied how a stickier ball would perform. With the adjusted policy in place, the league hopes to have better data, while also letting players know that it is monitoring the situation.

The topic of doctoring baseballs came to the forefront this off-season when a former visiting clubhouse manager for the Los Angeles Angels who had been fired by the team filed a lawsuit in which he claimed to have helped Gerrit Cole of the Yankees, Justin Verlander of the Houston Astros and several other pitchers obtain ball-gripping substances. The suit, in which the clubhouse manager claimed to have text messages from Cole asking for a substance to use on baseballs, was eventually dismissed by a federal judge.

“It’s an ongoing legal issue, and I am not comfortable talking about it now,” Cole told reporters shortly before the case was dismissed.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/24/sports/baseball/foreign-substance-ball-doctoring.html