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"It was a big clump of dirt," Rogers said as the Tigers knotted the Series at a game apiece. "Dirt and resin and all that stuff put together, when it's moist and you're rubbing up the baseball and it stays on your hand.
"And I wiped it off. I didn't know it was there and they told me and I took it off, and it wasn't a big deal."
- Kenny Rogers, Tigers' kick ass pitcher
Tony LaRussa believes him. Jim Leyland believes him. I believe him. Let's move on.
12 comments:
I believe him...but, if it was just dirt, why was he so frantically rubbing it off in the dugout? Why didn't he just show his hand to the umps or to La Russa? Why did he have to hide it at first?
Perhaps because he knew it didn't look good and that it might be taken mistakenly?? (I didn't see him rubbing if off, so I can't comment on the frantic part.)
But if the opposing team isn't going to make a deal of it, that should be the end of it. They are the ones that would have the biggest beef. And they decided it wasn't a big enough issue to pursue. I'm over it.
You're speaking alien to me. What happened? I don't get it.
Sigh. Incorrect all the way around. This is the same "Dirt and Resin" he had in the same spot on his hand against the As and against the Yankees. ESPN spoke with an employee of a baseball pine tar manufacturer who stated, unequivocally, that was pine tar. He knows, it gets on his hand every day. FURTHERMORE, since it is oil based, water does not wash off the tar. It washes off the color.
Rule 8.02 of baseball states that if a player has a foreign object on him he is to be AUTOMATICALLY ejected and to receive a 10 game suspension. That is a huge deal to the series and to that game. The umpires should have inspected his hand NOT given him a warning. I don't give a rats happy ass WHAT he says it was, he is an interested party. The umpires however admit they warned him. There goes his credibility. Sorry.
Did I mention that Todd Jones has been quoted, after the game, that pitchers put tar on their hands all the time during cold weather games? That he has done it? Thanks for throwing him under the bus Todd.
Why LaRussa raised no stink, anyone could guess. Maybe his pitchers are doing stuff too? Maybe because of his friendship with Leyland? He does not want to sully the game further than already sullied? There are any number of reasons he did not throw a fit. Perhaps he brought it to the umpires' attention figuring they would do.their.job. and inspect the pitcher rather than warn him.
And has anyone else noticed that Mr. Rogers had a different hat than everyone else? The underside of the bills of other players were a gray or other light color. His was black. And before every pitch his bands went from the bill to the back of the cap to the bill again, then delivery. Interesting.
Whether he needed to cheat to bamboozle the Cardinals is irrelevant (he didn't, as it seems), the relevant fact is that he had a foreign substance to start the game. Period.
Kylee: the Tigers pitcher was accused of having a "foreign substance" on his hand during the game last night. T(he cameras found it and some of the Cardinals players mentioned something about it.)A substance that could be used to do funny things to his pitches, making them hard to hit. Obviously, an illegal practice.
So the debate going on is what exactly it was and was he cheating??
Obviously I don't condone cheating. I just think that if something illegal was going on, especially in the World Series, the other team certainly could have put a stop to it. But for reasons we'll probably never know, they didn't.
I don't want to think that he did it, and maybe he did, but he did pitch very well without it on his hands. And I know he should've been thrown out if it's true, but the umpires did nothing and the other team didn't raise a stink. So the debate could go on and on. And it probably will. He'll write a tell-all book in about 15 years.
as to your rebuttal to my first..."it might be taken mistakenly"
Uh...there is a huge difference between pine tar and dirt/resin/sweat. A difference that someone completely ignorant to baseball or chemistry would see.
He was hiding something...and I do agree with you - if the umps and the other team want to dismiss it, there is nothing more that can be done. But, that doesn't make it legal.
and, by the way, LaRussa just smirked and giggled when asked if he really believed it was just dirt (I just watched the interview). And then he said, "no, I do not believe it was just dirt."
No, he did not say he thought it was pine tar, but you make make your inferences here.
It's pretty funny, too, how he gets that same patch of dirt, in the same spot, every game. check out sportsillustrated.com to see pictures from multiple games showing the exact same spot.
(don't defend this just because you're a tigers fan...when something's wrong, it's wrong / don't you remember him getting
boo-ed at the all-star game last year at tiger's stadium because even tiger's fans know he's an asshole?)
If it's suspicious, it should always be questioned.
CSI-MLB:
I find it curious that Mr. Rogers repeatedly said he "took off" the dirt. Linguists and psychologists would tell you that is a VERY mixed message and an implication of guilt. One does not typically talk about taking off dirt. They talk about wiping it off or cleaning it off.
Just another interesting thing to consider.
Well, now I've read that most of the blame is being placed on Tony LaRussa and why he chose not to speak up or push the issue further. He said that if it wasn't removed, he would've complained. LaRussa was content, I guess.
So that's the issue. If it was there (which I believe it was) the coach had every opportunity to put an end to it. He knows the rules. Kenny Rogers isn't going to throw his hands in the air and give up and take himself out of the game. He did what he was told. It's up to the other team to stop it if they thought something was unfair. Which they very well could have.
The same people that blame LaRussa for not throwing a hissy ALSO point out in the next breath that he would be a hypocrite for doing so. He did manage two of the biggest steroid abusers in the history of the game: Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire yet has not admitted knowing anything (hello willful blindness). However, it beehoves me to point out that steroids, though illegal, were not against the baseball rules until recently, so I am not sure that "defense" for LaRussa is very convincing.
Foreign objects on the hands have been part of the rules for ages. And the umpires have a independent duty to police things, whether a manager throws a hissy or not. They deserve just as much, if not the most, blame. He should have been tossed from the game immediately.
This whole thing pisses me off. It sucks that their possible win could be tainted by this whole mess. They worked so hard all year, they deserve the recognition and accomplishments, they've earned them.
They are a good team. With great hitters and fielders and managers. It sucks that one person could potentially overshadow an awesome season. Even if none of is true, this will always be associated with the team. And I'm not naive to think that he is the only person who has found ways to "bend the rules" or find ways to win. I know that. I just don't think this is fair to the rest of the team who has worked their asses off to get to the World Series.
I'm sickened.
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