I posted this as a secondary question earlier
but have edited it out and put it here
For our Baseball fans is there anything similar in the laws of your game as regards "improving the swing" artificially by foul means?...in other words tampering with the ball

Here is an article about the same thing in cricket And the umpires have to be eagle-eyed to spot this
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08-23-06, 10:23 PM
DorianGreyed
The opposing pitcher would know that the ball had been tampered with immediately. Pitchers can, and have, done several things to the ball to make it harder to hit. (Substances on the ball, loosening the cover, using a small file on the ball - all make the ball move differently when pitched)

Besides doping, cheating by the offensive team is confined to doctoring bats. Now and then, someone is caught.

08-23-06, 11:01 PM
bedstor
What penalties are awarded if this is found to be true DG?

08-23-06, 11:45 PM
DorianGreyed
Offending pitchers can be ejected from the game. Batters can be, too, but the rules about illegal bats seem to be rarely enforced. There may be suspensions and fines involved, but I am not sure.

08-25-06, 02:45 PM
Koz
The policy in Major League Baseball is a bat can be confiscated and examined by an opposing manager once a game. Kind of an odd policy I think as once a manager thinks a bat is corked and asks the umpire to remove it from the game it would allow the opposing team to “cork at will”. That keeps the manager from checking too many bats so it is not that the rule is not enforced, they are afraid to use it as is I believe.

The only other way to catch an altered bat is if it breaks and any illegal substance placed inside is exposed. (Anything inside the bat other than the original wood is illegal)

Remember Graig Nettles “Superball” incident of 1974? Upon breaking his bat 5 or 6 Superballs came flying out. While traditional “corking” of a bat does nothing but make the bat lighter, the Superballs were thought to add extra “pop” at contact.

The biggest travesty that just asks to be used as an unfair advantage nowadays lies in Colorado. Five years ago the Colorado Rockies began using a humidor to try to offset the thin air problem. Balls used to fly out of Coors Field at an alarming rate. Pitchers did not like to pitch there as the thin air allows what would be routine fly ball to clear the fence. Moving the fences back did not help. Once they did that there was so much extra room for the outfielders to cover did not cut down on the runs scored much.

They now place game balls in a humidor to in essence weigh them down. I can’t wait to see just how long it will take for this to be abused. What ball boy/girl will be the first to give super soggy balls to the Rockies pitchers, or bone dry ones to the opposing team’s pitchers? Wink

08-25-06, 04:18 PM
DorianGreyed
Don't forget Sammy Sosa's "accidental" use of a corked fungo bat.
Bedstor, fungo bats are thinner, lighter bats used for fielding practice. Being both lighter and thinner, a coach can hit more balls to fielders without tiring his arms. Fungoes can even be swung with one hand and the ball will still travel to the outfield. Since they are definitely both shaped differently and noticably lighter than game bats, it is just about impossible to mistake a fungo for a legal bat in a game. The one Sosa used in a game broke, and it was obviously corked. So, not only did the guy use steroids (You don't get delts like he grew naturally, and every one of the several guys (weightlifters) that I knew who used steroids grew massive delts just like Sosa, Canseco, et al.*), but he was using corked bats to get homers.

*If anyone remembers Ben Johnson, the Olympic 100 m Gold Medalist in the Olympics who was caught using steroids, they should remmber his massive and perfectly defined delts that he somehow managed to grow in or 3 years. Arnold didn't have better delts

This message has been edited. Last edited by: DorianGreyed,