Sammy Sosa - Corked Bat?

Ron Thorne · June-4th-2003, 03:50 PM

I wasn't watching the game last night when Sammy Sosa broke his bat in the 1st inning and was ejected after umpires discovered cork in his bat. If it's true, what a shame ... for Sosa and all of baseball.

Sosa's corked bat has baseball buzzing

MIKE FITZPATRICK, AP Sports Writer

Wednesday, June 4, 2003

(06-04) 01:58 PDT (AP) --

Sammy Sosa has everybody in baseball buzzing again -- about his corked bat, not his home run hop.

In a stunning scene, the Chicago Cubs star was ejected during the first inning of a 3-2 home victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays after umpires discovered cork in his broken bat Tuesday night.

Sosa said it was an honest mistake, that the corked bat was one he uses to put on home run displays in batting practice and he didn't mean to cheat in a game.

"I was just trying to get ready and go out there and get ready for the game, and I just picked the wrong bat," Sosa said. "I feel sorry. I just apologize to everybody."

One of the game's greatest sluggers, Sosa ranks 17th on the career list with 505 homers. He flourished in the national spotlight during his 1998 home run race with Mark McGwire, captivating fans with his flashy smile and signature hop after connecting.

But now Sosa's reputation could be tarnished. It's up to fans and fellow players to decide if they forgive him -- or believe him.

"Deep down in my heart, I truly believe Sammy didn't know that was in there," Cubs manager Dusty Baker said. "But I just hope that this event, whatever it was, doesn't tarnish his career or take away all that Sammy Sosa's done. For baseball and for Chicago."

In other interleague games, it was: Cincinnati 4, the New York Yankees 3; Anaheim 15, Montreal 4; Florida 13, Oakland 2; Seattle 4, Philadelphia 0; Atlanta 6, Texas 5; Houston 11, Baltimore 6; St. Louis 11, Toronto 5; Colorado 7, Cleveland 3; Minnesota 6, San Francisco 4; Arizona 2, the Chicago White Sox 1; Detroit 3, San Diego 2; and Los Angeles 4, Kansas City 3.

Boston's game at Pittsburgh was rained out and rescheduled as part of a doubleheader Wednesday. The only NL game scheduled, Milwaukee at the New York Mets, was also rained out and will be made up July 28.

Sosa appeared to drive in a run with a broken-bat grounder to second. Crew chief Tim McClelland gathered with the other three umpires, examined the handle of the bat and ejected Sosa as he stood in the dugout. The run was wiped off the board.

McClelland was also the umpire who took a home run away from Kansas City's George Brett in 1983 because of excessive pine tar, a decision later reversed by AL president Lee MacPhail.

McClelland said the cork was clearly visible.

"I turned it over and there was a small probably half-dollar size piece of cork in the bat right about halfway down the barrel head, I guess," he said. "It was notched in there. I felt it, and it obviously was cork, so I called the crew together and it was reminiscent of what happened about 20 years ago with me."

Sosa's other bats were confiscated by security personnel and turned over to major league baseball.

Cork inside a wooden bat is thought to help players hit the ball farther and is against baseball rules. Several players have been caught using altered bats in the past, including Albert Belle, Wilton Guerrero, Chris Sabo, Billy Hatcher and Graig Nettles. All were suspended.

"Unfortunately, it's a dirty mark, when you consider all he's accomplished," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "It's really unfortunate for the game. Everybody's scratching their heads right now. ... It's embarrassing. He's too good of a player. It's too bad."

HenryMc · June-4th-2003, 04:09 PM

The guy's a cheat ..he should never play again...but then it's America ...so he'll probably be more popular than ever now

the ballad of slamming sammy sosa

you know it happens to guys as we age
and they say to every guy at some stage
when the flesh is weak but the spirit is willing
when we start sweating when we should be chilling
the time we're called up to bat
but our instrument feels strangely flat
when you reach out to just hug her
and find you need something extra in your slugger
so don't blame sammy if he reached out
for a supplement to help him out
but then again I really guess he should
know the difference 'tween cork and wood!!

Gentle Giant · June-4th-2003, 04:39 PM

Yeah, yeah, they always try to take down the colored guy. McGwire was on 'roids but they let him still be a hero.

Ron Thorne · June-4th-2003, 05:02 PM

With all due respect, GG, I seriously doubt that any racial motivation can be attached to this. Sammy is arguably one of the single most-loved baseball players in recent memory.

If it was, as Sammy has declared, a "mistake" that he simply picked up the wrong bat, it would seem that his other bats which were confiscated should prove to be "legal". I hope that's the case.

I find it difficult to understand how someone with so much to lose would possibly allow this to happen, under any circumstances. Why wouldn't he have marked the "special" corked bat he uses to launch pre-game home runs in batting practice in some special way? Hell, I would have painted the knob end day-glow orange to avoid this scenario, if necessary. There are many simple ways in which a bat could be marked to distinguish it from others.

Here's some of what home plate umpire Tim McClelland voiced:

McClelland said he wanted to make sure his crew mates agreed with him, knowing full well that Sosa's status could be tainted. He became the 18th member of the 500-home run club on April 4, and is the only player in big league history to have three 60-homer seasons.

"With all the great things that Sammy's done for the game of baseball, that ran through my mind, exactly that ran through my mind," McClelland said when asked about Sosa's image. "Matter of fact, I said that to the crew, the ramifications of what's going to happen with this. I didn't want to do it. But obviously the evidence was right there. You've got to go by the rules. So we've got to do what we've got to do."

Source: Carrie Muskat / MLB.com

Enforcer · June-4th-2003, 05:04 PM

I thought the thread title was "Cooked Bat"

Then I wondered if that would work on Atkins.

Inordinately preoccupied with food,
Larry

Sergio Zamora · June-4th-2003, 05:11 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Larry Nagel
I thought the thread title was "Cooked Bat"

Me too!

Quote:

Then I wondered if that would work on Atkins.

I don't think so.

Jon Abbey · June-4th-2003, 05:19 PM

"Why wouldn't he have marked the "special" corked bat he uses to launch pre-game home runs in batting practice in some special way?"

he did, there was clearly a C on the end of the bat in before-shot stills on Sportscenter last night.

"The guy's a cheat ..he should never play again"

that's the most absurd opinion I've heard yet, on a topic that I'm already sick of less than 24 hours after it happened.

simple mistake, guys. a really stupid one, and one that will probably haunt him for the rest of his career, but I don't think it taints anything he's accomplished in his career thus far, at least not to me.

Uli · June-4th-2003, 05:20 PM

Oh, that's where all the cork goes!

(I am only posting this to prove how close goodie and I are thinking)

Uli · June-4th-2003, 05:27 PM

IMHO this is a bit a blown up story. It was clearly marked as a C and most experts agree that the cork rule is pretty stoopid and Sosa should not have made the mistake and should be out for a game or two.

Captain Hate · June-4th-2003, 05:51 PM

Too bad it happened to one of the nicer guys in baseball; unlike that rat prick Joey Belle. Although make no doubt about it, Sosa's as juiced as Bonds on the 'roids.

bostontricky · June-4th-2003, 07:36 PM

Still, one would think that a professional hitter of Sosa's caliber would be able to tell by feel that he grabbed the corkarino out of the lumber rack. This isn't slow-pitch softball, where you grab what feels good: he's got six and a half dozen bats, crafted to his specifications. And one ringer.

Bad dog. Five to ten.

Steve Reynolds · June-4th-2003, 07:44 PM

c'mon - he knew what he was doing

he may have been doing this when he was hitting 60+ per year

unless he does it again without corking bats, there will always be doubt

but I would love to see what Jon Abbey saw - the "C" on the end of the bat

fwiw - I say he still has a Sosa like year in him without corked bast - but he needs to do it - to clear the doubt

Albert Diaz · June-4th-2003, 08:35 PM

I felt so disappointed last night when I heard this news. I'm a Sammy Sosa fan and I just couldn't believe it when I heard the news. The guy hasn't been doing to good since he came of the DL so I wonder if that had anything to do with it, or if this was an ongoing thing throughout his career. I just hope they don't give him the same bullshit that Pete Rose had to go through. They both deserve to be in the Hall...plain and simple.

Ron Thorne · June-4th-2003, 10:12 PM

I've just learned that all 76 bats belonging to Sammy Sosa and confiscated by MLB security at Wrigley Field last night have proven to be "legal". That's a relief. I hope that in time, Sammy's fully vindicated if this was, indeed, a stupid oversight.

Some will never believe that, as dumb as it was, it's possible that Sammy screwed up, just as he said.

Sammy Sosa's Bats Show No Signs of Cork
NANCY ARMOUR
Associated Press

CHICAGO - No cork or other foreign material was found in any of
the 76 bats confiscated from Sammy Sosa's locker and X-rayed by baseball officials.

The bats were taken from the Chicago Cubs' locker room during the game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on Tuesday night. Cork was found in Sosa's bat when it shattered after he grounded out in the first inning of the Cubs' 3-2 victory.

"We believe the X-ray process was sufficient to determine the state of those bats, and we're very confident all of those bats were clean and had no foreign substances within them," Sandy Alderson, executive vice president of baseball operations in the commissioner's office, said Wednesday.

"We're happy with that, and that is consistent with Sammy's explanation of the incident last night."

Alderson said security personnel took Sosa's bats "several innings" after the cork was discovered. Alderson said he was confident all of Sosa's bats were impounded.

There is a possibility that Sosa's bats in the Hall of Fame could be examined, Alderson added. The Hall has five of Sosa's bats, including the one he presented in mid-April, more than a week after he hit his 500th home run.

Sosa said he accidentally pulled out a bat he uses to put on home run displays for fans in batting practice, and swore that he's never done anything illegal. If he was trying to cheat, he said, why wouldn't he have tried to grab the bat before anyone saw it?

"I would have come back to the plate and picked up all the pieces, don't you think?" he said Wednesday. "I didn't pick it up. I went to the dugout. So you guys can see the difference."

But that doesn't mean he's off the hook.

Bob Watson, baseball's vice president in charge of discipline, will decide what - if any - punishment Sosa will face. He's expected at Wrigley Field by Thursday morning to do interviews before returning to New York to make a decision.

Other players who've used corked bats have been suspended for up to 10 games, and Alderson said he thinks precedent will play a part in Watson's decision. Sosa can appeal any discipline imposed.

"I think it would be in everyone's best interest to conclude this as quickly as possible, and be able to have a decision that is timely," Alderson said. "On the other hand, there needs to be thorough investigation.

"As I said, Sammy has been very forthcoming, and I think we are all hopeful the investigation will corroborate what he has told us," Alderson said. "So far, there is no indication in anything we have seen that his explanation is not accurate."

Sosa uses bats made by three different manufacturers. While each brand is visibly different, Alderson said all bats made by the same maker look similar. The bat Sosa used Tuesday night was made by Tuffbat.

Alderson also said baseball will look into the issue of having special bats for batting practice so a situation like this doesn't happen again.

"If this was a batting practice bat, the possibility of confusing that bat would suggest that we probably ought to be awfully careful about having any of those bats around," Alderson said. "It's not something we've looked at, but we will."

Sosa was in the lineup Wednesday night against Tampa Bay, and fans gave him a loud ovation when he did his traditional sprint to right field before the game. Several fans carried signs supporting him, including one that read, "Still loving Sammy."

When Sosa came to the plate for his first at-bat, he got a standing ovation.

"We're all human and we've all made mistakes. Nobody is perfect in this world," he said before the game. "I stood up yesterday like a man and took the blame. But the media today, they got me up there like I'm a criminal. That's something that really bothered me and hurt me."

Steve Reynolds · June-4th-2003, 10:18 PM

you think that someone who would cork a bat would have more than ONE?

Sammy might not be the brightest bulb in the land, but he's not an idiot.

the 76 bats being found with no cork proves nothing

steve(thelil) · June-4th-2003, 11:50 PM

Proves nothing? Testing his other bats is the only kind of proof there can be about whether he did the same thing in the past. And in an innocent until PROVEN guilty society, if it proves nothing, it means he's not guilty.

Ron Thorne · June-4th-2003, 11:56 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Steve Reynolds
you think that someone who would cork a bat would have more than ONE?

Sammy might not be the brightest bulb in the land, but he's not an idiot.

the 76 bats being found with no cork proves nothing

I'll attempt to respond to your points one-at-a-time, in the same order in which they were raised, Steve.

1. Perhaps. Are you suggesting that Sammy Sosa corked a bat intentionally to "cheat" as a hitter? Seems like it. Do you have proof?

2. What is your point with stating that Sammy Sosa is not "the brightest bulb in the land, but he's no idiot"? Please explain.

3. Oh, contraire. It obviously "proves" that out of 77 bats in his possession last night, only one, the one with the now (according to Jon Abbey) infamous "C" on it was corked. C'mon, Steve, give Sammy a break.

Do you want to see Sammy Sosa "go down"? Is that your hope?

moneyp · June-5th-2003, 12:24 AM

Ah, so what. Gaylord Perry used the spitball and he's a legend. It's only cheating *WHEN* you get caught, not before or after. *If* he used a corked bat to hit 50 home runs a year (which I think is just a ludicrous assertion on the face of it), I couldn't care less. He musta been hella smart not to get caught for so long.

But I don't think he did. Cork doesn't help someone like Sosa who already handles the bat like a twig. Hell, how many bats has he already broken to this point? It wouldn't be worth the risk.

S.Eden · June-5th-2003, 12:39 AM

Quote:

c'mon - he knew what he was doing

Steve, Boston will blow it again this year no matter how many people are paying attention. Honest.

Gordon B · June-5th-2003, 01:52 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Uli
IMHO this is a bit a blown up story. It was clearly marked as a C and most experts agree that the cork rule is pretty stoopid and Sosa should not have made the mistake and should be out for a game or two.

Uli, most experts? Who are these corked bat experts and why do they think the rule is "stoopid?"

RBS · June-5th-2003, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Albert Diaz
I just hope they don't give him the same bullshit that Pete Rose had to go through. They both deserve to be in the Hall...plain and simple.

I have to disagree with you on that point. Pete Rose, in addition to being one of the biggest flaming douchebags in the history of the game, broke rule number one, which is posted on the door of each clubhouse, which states that no one, but no one, shall bet on the game of baseball.

I have a question for anyone who can answer it: If a corked bat makes the bat lighter and gives it more speed, why not just use a lighter bat? What's the difference?

Salvador Dali Lama · June-5th-2003, 02:05 PM

Thank you RBS.

Fuck Pete Rose.

Jimmy Cantiello · June-5th-2003, 02:37 PM

With a corked bat?...........

Noj · June-5th-2003, 02:49 PM

Pete Rose...

Off the field: he's pretty Vegas with it
On the field: reached safely more than ANYONE else

For his play, I think he deserves HOF status.

Enforcer · June-5th-2003, 04:15 PM

The corked bat issue is irrelevant to home run hitting anyway. It's a myth. They've studied the effects of the corked bat. It's estimated that a corked bat will actually cost a hitter about 3 feet on a 375 foot shot. The corked bat weighs less, which means it swings about 1 mph faster. That's about 1%. It may help a singles hitter a little, but the lack of weight more than offsets the speed of swing advantages.

Larry

MRS · June-5th-2003, 04:17 PM

First. . .RBS what a wonderful post. Fuck Pete Rose. Anyone recall what he was doing the exact hour MLB ostracized him? Pushing autographed balls on The Home Shopping Network. That rule is posted in every clubhouse (at Busch it's under the picture of McSherry just before you enter the dugout).

Second. . .what is this 'mistake' horseshit? Does anyone actually believe Sosa's employment of a corked bat was an anomaly? And please steer clear of the chemical enhancement debate--these are two very different kettles of fish. Sosa is a filthy cheat. I consider corking a bat a very serious offense and as Cap'n said it'a a shame such an ostensibly good guy couls stoop so low.

Sammy Sosa*

Gentle Giant · June-5th-2003, 04:25 PM

My earlier post was half in jest, as I didn't expect this story to last too long. To me, the key thing is that the five bats of his that are in the Hall are cork-free, and those are the ones he hit his key homers with. That seems like more than enough evidence to suggest that this was a very rare - if not one-time - incident.

RBS · June-5th-2003, 04:44 PM

Thanks Michael. Pete Rose has always been a devious shmuck.
I have no respect for him at all, regardless of his statistics. He's still trying to scheme his way back in to baseball without taking any responsibility for his actions.

I still don't understand something -- say a corked bat takes 2 ounces off of a 36 ounce bat, making it 34 ounces, why not just swing a 34 ounce bat then?

Ron Thorne · June-5th-2003, 04:47 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Michael Schaumann
Second. . .what is this 'mistake' horseshit? Does anyone actually believe Sosa's employment of a corked bat was an anomaly?

Yes, unless or until there's proof otherwise.

I think someone in the Cubs dugout (coaching staff) should probably answer a few questions as to why an "illegal" bat was ever in use on game days for any purpose. Stupid!

MRS · June-5th-2003, 04:53 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Ron Thorne
I think someone in the Cubs dugout (coaching staff) should probably answer a few questions as to why an "illegal" bat was ever in use on game days for any purpose. Stupid!

. . .which is why I want a camera angle on the dugout the second the bat cracked. You don't think the equipment manager knew what was about to happen? That's why I doubt the '76 clean bats' validity. I'm surprised though, Ron, the blame hasn't shifted to dugout/equip. management as of yet.

C ompletely

U seless

B y

S eptember