Corked

As a baseball fan (and Cubs fan), the last few days have been maddening. If you've been living underground and missed the news (or maybe you're not a baseball fan), Sammy Sosa got caught using a corked bat. The process of corking a bat is fairly simple: drill out the center of a bat, fill with crushed cork, reseal the bat, and voila, you're a major league slugger! The common argument behind the illegal practice is that quicker bat speed results in longer fly balls. A little research, however, suggests bat corking actually decreases the distance of a fly ball.

What Advantage?

More important than the physics involved is the issue of Sosa cheating. Sports reporters have been talking about little else this week. Does Sosa deserve the label of cheater and an eight-game suspension? You bet. Without question, he violated the rules of the game. The question that comes to my mind is, "Why are we making such a big deal about Sammy Sosa?" Baseball is a game of cheaters. Sluggers use steroids or other supplements to increase their bulk, players take ephedra to enhance performance, and pitchers doctor the ball. Pitchers are, without question, the most deceptive of the lot. Irv Brown, a local talk show host and former college baseball coach, claims the vast majority of major league pitchers doctor the ball. They either put a foreign substance on the ball (vaseline, soap, KY jelly, spit) or scuff it (wedding ring, emery board, catcher slices the ball on pad buckles). Irv counted Greg Maddux, Curt Schilling, and Jamie Moyer among those who doctor the ball. In fact, Irv suggested that the practice was the norm rather than the exception.

If this is true, and I believe it is, why single out the big sluggers who get caught using a corked bat? Why don't we see more pitchers being chastised or punished? Why don't we see all cheating targeted? If Major League Baseball is really concerned about this issue, why don't they institute steroid/supplement testing? Performance enhancing drugs don't give certain players an unfair advantage? Puh-lease. I'd like to see MLB address all these issues and put some integrity back in the game.