Spitballs and emery boards

[Richard]

Whatever happened to the days of spitballs and emery boards. I remember when I was a kid, pitchers would get caught now and then which I think added to the charm of the game. Remember the great Gaylord Perry?

[Extra Innings]

Whatever happened to the days of spitballs and emery boards. I remember when I was a kid, pitchers would get caught now and then which I think added to the charm of the game. Remember the great Gaylord Perry?

You should check out Gaylord Perry's book 'Me & the Spitter.'

[Imgran]

With modern cameras, there really is less that a pitcher can get away with. Maybe you remember the fracas that happened in the 2006 playoffs when the FOX cameras picked up a brown stain on Kenny Rogers' thumb? Emery boards are right out. Sooner or later the camera picks that up.

[tigers527]

IMO Spitballs and Emery Boards would be a great name for a garage band.

[Seattle1]

Whatever happened to the days of spitballs and emery boards. I remember when I was a kid, pitchers would get caught now and then which I think added to the charm of the game. Remember the great Gaylord Perry?

That is sort of the "charming" kind of "cheating" from the olden days. Would that those days were here again. Instead we have sinister, dastardly cheating by taking steroids which is far worse by many orders of magnitude.

:(

[Imgran]

Talk about a nostalgia overdose. Cheating is cheating.

[SamtheBravesFan]

With modern cameras, there really is less that a pitcher can get away with. Maybe you remember the fracas that happened in the 2006 playoffs when the FOX cameras picked up a brown stain on Kenny Rogers' thumb? Emery boards are right out. Sooner or later the camera picks that up.

Exactly. Not only is it a little easier to catch cheating, the 24-7 media will create a firestorm around it.

[Lurch]

Maybe you remember the fracas that happened in the 2006 playoffs when the FOX cameras picked up a brown stain on Kenny Rogers' thumb?

That was the only game the Tigers won during the World Series, too ;)

[Seattle1]

Spitballs and emory boards, should those have been included in that song "A Few of My Favorite Things"?

:laugh

:rofl:

[Richard]

Besides Gaylord Perry, who else was known as a spitball pitcher back in the day?

[ol' aches and pains]

Lew Burdette from those great Milwaukee Braves teams of the '50s had a pretty good spitter. He shut down the powerful Yankee lineup in the 1957 World Series, pitching and winning three complete games, giving up 2 runs, total.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

With modern cameras, there really is less that a pitcher can get away with. Maybe you remember the fracas that happened in the 2006 playoffs when the FOX cameras picked up a brown stain on Kenny Rogers' thumb? Emery boards are right out. Sooner or later the camera picks that up.

If Gaylord Perry threw one spitball or any one illegal pitch then he cheated, broke a rule and we know he did throw some.................but how many. I think he was right on when he said his biggest advantage was his reputation, giving the hitter one more thing to think about.

The opposing bench, the first and third base coaches, the batter, the umpires, TV cameras with replay, slo-mo................. all eyes on him watching his every move and they catch this guy only one time and it took 20 years to catch him for the first and only time.

This guy had to be the most clever rule breaker ever. The other teams were well aware of some tricks, having the catcher scuff up the ball, infielders scraping the ball on belt buckles, all eyes trying to catch this guy or a teammate doctoring the ball and it takes 20 seasons to catch him in the act.

I think his rep was blown out of proportion, on every pitch, stroking his hair on the sides, even stroking his eyebrows to make them think he had a substance that he was picking up on his fingers, which of course he did at times.

[ItsOnlyGil]

Post-1947 Preacher Roe.
He developed it right before joining the Dodgers.

[White Knight]

That was the only game the Tigers won during the World Series, too ;)



Looks like he's smelling his brown finger. :rofl:

[Steven Gallanter]

Besides Gaylord Perry, who else was known as a spitball pitcher back in the day?
Don Sutton was worse than Gaylord Perry.

On WTBS he detailed his methods of cutting the stitches on the ball with his filed fingernails, using Vitlalis, packing dirt into the seams of the ball, pitching from in front of the mound...ad nauseum.

MLB Network showed a replay from the 1977 World Series where Sutton balked twice to the same hitter.

Billy Martin came out to complain to the umpire only to be met with "we're not going to call it."

Not surprisingly Martin erupts with #%&*.

Don Drysdale's ONCE A BUM ALWAYS A DODGER details the heightened mound at Dodger Staidum and the altering of baselines to help Maury Wills steal bases.

Whitey Ford in THE MEN OF OCTOBER confirms the anecdotes told by Jim Bouton in BALL FOUR regarding the gouging of baseballs and the watering of the dirt in front of home plate in Yankee Stadium.

I recall watching WPIX and hearing Frank Messer and Phil Rizzuto joke about the "quicksand" in front of the plate helping Mel Stottlemeyer's sinkers stay in the infield.

Somehow this is considered "gamesmanship' rather than cheating.

Cheating by pitcherws was ccepted in the baseball of the late 60's and early 70's.

Is it right?

Is it wrong?

Those were the values of that time.

One of the reasons that I have remained interested in baseball is that the shifting ethical dimensions of the game make it a mirror of America.

[Rich the Giants fan]

I don't understand pitchers today. Pitchers used to live for any kind of scuff on the ball they could get. They dirtier and more banged up, the better. Now, with umpires tossing seemingly every ball out after every play, even the pitchers are getting used to it.

How about Brett Cecil of Toronto, who tossed a live ball out, costing a few extra bases.

"It's pretty obvious I wasn't even thinking about timeout being called or anything," Cecil said. "I saw a scuff mark or some dirt on the ball and I wanted to throw it in; I wanted a new ball. I turned around and chucked it and that was that. The fact didn't even come to my mind that time hadn't been called or anything like that.

[Imgran]

Well, in 2007, Julian Tavarez caught a break and made the rotation because the team abandoned their ambition to make a starter out of Paps, and for the rest of the year Crazy Julian was trying desperately to get stay in the rotation as a starter. It was amazing the different colors his hat changed over the course of the season. Brown sometimes, white others, even yellow occasionally, always the right side of the hat just above the ear, and by the end of the game the entire right half of the hat was stained the same color. It's not exactly like the guy was a Red Sox lifer with a favorite hat either. If it's still there, go check the video highlights of Tavarez' complete game against the Jays in 2006 and you'll see what I mean.

No one ever said anything, but I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who ever picked that up. Like I said, the guy was fighting to stay in the rotation and ultimately it was him versus Jon Lester. I'd be desperate too.