Sammy Sosa Gets Caught!

[jonah]

Sosa got caught corking his bat tonight. Makes me wonder how many of those 500 homers were legit.:rolleyes:

[Overawed]

Not much using a bat like that IMO. It was nothing but cork. Maybe a half corked bat got him to .500, but not that one. I could be wrong, but I doubt it. I think Sammy is playing nice.

OT: Talk about homers. Did you see the game winner Andruw Jones hit off of Urbina tonight? Unbelievable, 0-2 count with 2 outs and he hits it to dead center four rows back. :D

[Boilermaker]

Did you hear Sosa's comments " I grabbed the wrong bat thats the bat for batting practice" Highly unlikely.

[jonah]

Originally posted by Overawed
Not much using a bat like that IMO. It was nothing but cork. Maybe a half corked bat got him to .500, but not that one. I could be wrong, but I doubt it. I think Sammy is playing nice.

OT: Talk about homers. Did you see the game winner Andruw Jones hit off of Urbina tonight? Unbelievable, 0-2 count with 2 outs and he hits it to dead center four rows back. :D

I didn't see the bat, just read the wire report. I thought it was the usual thin plug in the barrel.

[tom]

Originally posted by jonah
Makes me wonder how many of those 500 homers were legit.:rolleyes:

You, me, and I bet the the vast majority of baseball fans and players. Sammy's not getting out of the tub very easily on this one, if at all.

[aharris]

Does this remind anyone of George Brett and the pine tar scandal?

Being a KC Royal fan (support the home-town boys), I haven't followed baseball much lately, but isn't this similar?

[tom]

I might have been reminded of it, but the two incidents are, um, not in the same ballpark. Cork in the bat is a definite no-no; no disputing it. But pine tar is allowed--up to a certain level from the end of the handle. Brett just had a inch or so too much tar for the umpire's liking. (Brett's HR nullified in that game was reinstated a few days later, by the way.)

[Overawed]

They are saying on ESPN that a corked bat only adds about 1.1 mph to the average bat speed. So, if Sammy hits one 400 ft and corked bat would give him 4 more feet. Of course, 4 feet can be the difference between a homer and an out. Thats a big difference in my book.

This will follow Sammy the rest of his career, which is sad, it might prevent him from being in the Hall of Fame.

At least Sammy is saying that he made a big mistake. I don't know if I believe his story, but at least he is owning up.

What else can happen to the Cubs??? :(

[Boilermaker]

Makes you wonder just how many corked bats are out there?
When I watched the video ESPN showed of corking a bat,
it looks like pretty common practice.
It is sad on the Cubs behalf, they finally have team that can contend and now this happens.

[tom]

Originally posted by Boilermaker
Makes you wonder just how many corked bats are out there?


Probably as many as there are baseballs with Vaseline and other gunk on em. :D


aharris: I was just reading the Sosa story and it turns out that the HP umpire who ejected Sammy (Tim McClelland) is the same fellow who tossed Brett way back when for the excessive pine tar.
(You are too young to remember having seen that KC game, right? :wink: )

[fOx]

Wasn't Brett also tossed for using a corked bat? If I remember right he was tossed for 7 games. Something about another team member trying to cover it up for Brett and swapping the corked one with a regular bat so Brett wouldn't get caught? But the MLB found out anyway...

fOx

[tom]

I don't think so, Fox, but I'm not 100% sure. There've been several hitters caught with cork in the past 20 or so years, but I'd be really surprised if Brett's one of them.

[fOx]

Sorry, I got Belle confused with Brett... I've just had a bad couple of days.

http://www.madville.com/link.php?id=41911&t=17

fOx

[jonah]

Some real irony is that McClelland was also on the officiating crew in the Albert Belle corking fiasco, but not home plate umpire. The Belle bat was confiscated and placed in the officials locker room. One of his team mates climbed through the ceiling and switched bats, but it was obvious to the umpires that there'd been a switch. Eventually they got hold of the original again. Belle was suspended for 10 games, but it was lowered to 7.

I read that in the paper today.

[jonah]

Originally posted by tom
Probably as many as there are baseballs with Vaseline and other gunk on em. :D


aharris: I was just reading the Sosa story and it turns out that the HP umpire who ejected Sammy (Tim McClelland) is the same fellow who tossed Brett way back when for the excessive pine tar.
(You are too young to remember having seen that KC game, right? :wink: )

I don't think Brett got tossed for the pine tar, he got tossed for going ballistic when they cancelled out his homerun. An understandable reaction considering the pine tar doesn't make a ball go further. I think the rule then was 18" from the base, but he had about 20".

[Alansfish]

News reported MLB tested Sosa's other bats...

70 odd other bats with no cork and he happens to pick up the one with cork...makes you wonder!

[aharris]

Actually, I don't remember the game per se, but I do remember seeing footage of him going ballistic. I remember that really gave my parents a low impression of Brett that they still have to this day. I don't remember it well as I was in grade school.

He must have thrown a titanic fit because it sticks out with a few other memeories like the Challenger disaster, Reagan getting shot, and Prince Charles and Princess Di's wedding, etc.

Actually, these days I 'm more interested in finding out about Priest Holms's hip and whether or not Warfield and Bartee will lose their CB spots (we can only hope) and if the 32 Defense will improve enough to give the Chiefs a shot at the playoffs.

And waiting for K-State Football to fire it up in three months . . .

I'm a football fan.

[tom]

Originally posted by aharris
I don't remember it well as I was in grade school.



So was I. :rolleyes:

:mrgreen:

[Overawed]

Originally posted by aharris


And waiting for K-State Football to fire it up in three months . . .

I'm a football fan.

Tell it sistah!! I myself am all fired up for SEC football, I am a big UT Vol fan.

I love baseball though. Whets my appetite for foosball even more :D

[fredzebra]

I don't think this cork thing will make any difference on Sosa's image in the long run. i read this article in the paper that said that while the bat speed increases because of the lighter wt of the bat, the force decreases for the same reason. It also that cork doesnt do much to make a ball fly further. (on the other hand David Justice claims balls fly off the bat with cork in it. i wonder how he knows that).
Also, maybe Sammy thought he had to do something because he probably got off of steroid use since MLB is implementing a testing system soon (although no plans to ban steroid usage). But Sosa isnt the only MLB player to use steroids. The taint on home-runs totals in this "era" will be the steroid usage.

[Overawed]

Lets not forget "juiced balls" either. Ergh, that sounds dirty.