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Company Claims '98 Baseballs Were Juiced
AP ^
| 4 Jan 07
Posted on 01/04/2007 8:04:52 AM PST by xzins
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1
posted on
01/04/2007 8:04:54 AM PST
by
xzins
To: xzins
Company Claims '98 Baseballs Were Juiced Apparently so were the players.
2
posted on
01/04/2007 8:05:57 AM PST
by
dfwgator
To: xzins
I've wondered why they didn't do this testing long ago. I can remember when baseballs didn't float in water.
3
posted on
01/04/2007 8:06:13 AM PST
by
TommyDale
(Iran President Ahmadinejad is shorter than Tom Daschle!)
To: xzins
4
posted on
01/04/2007 8:07:34 AM PST
by
labette
(Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made ...)
To: xzins
Expected and understandable, considering that Baseball was becoming an afterthought prior to the home run derby injection into the sport.
5
posted on
01/04/2007 8:07:39 AM PST
by
Pukin Dog
(Sans Reproache)
To: Pukin Dog
As many foul balls get taken home each year by fans, you'd think there'd be a number of these things available to disassemble and inspect.
6
posted on
01/04/2007 8:09:55 AM PST
by
xzins
(Retired Army Chaplain and proud of it! Supporting our troops means praying for them to WIN!)
To: xzins
The Center for Quantitative Imaging at Penn State, it took images of 1998 baseballs. Imaging? Why not just buy a representative sample of 1998 balls and saw them in half?
7
posted on
01/04/2007 8:10:41 AM PST
by
The_Victor
(If all I want is a warm feeling, I should just wet my pants.)
To: xzins
Does it make any difference if the balls were juiced! Baseball is entertainment and nothing more. It was wise to give the paying fans what they wanted, more excitment and suspense.
8
posted on
01/04/2007 8:11:48 AM PST
by
em2vn
To: xzins
A company that uses computer imaging claims baseballs had a larger rubberized core and a synthetic rubber ring in 1998...Nowhere in the article does it mention how much larger the balls are. Microns? Millimeters? Inches? The balls could very well be within spec, as I suspect, and someone is out for some free advertising.
9
posted on
01/04/2007 8:13:47 AM PST
by
randog
(What the...?!)
To: em2vn
So it's okay to juice the baseballs, and not juice the players with steroids? What's the difference? Both result in an artificial result.
10
posted on
01/04/2007 8:14:34 AM PST
by
TommyDale
(Iran President Ahmadinejad is shorter than Tom Daschle!)
To: randog
You'd think they could collect some of these balls and test them.
11
posted on
01/04/2007 8:16:19 AM PST
by
xzins
(Retired Army Chaplain and proud of it! Supporting our troops means praying for them to WIN!)
To: xzins
I know these guys were just doing imaging, but I wonder what 9 years on the shelf does to the bounciness of a ball? Also, a ball stored 9 years in an attic where temps hit 150 degrees might be a lot different than one stored at room temp.
12
posted on
01/04/2007 8:16:24 AM PST
by
Right Wing Assault
("..this administration is planning a 'Right Wing Assault' on values and ideals.." - John Kerry)
To: xzins
This is a little suspect if you ask me. There is no doubt in my mind that there is a huge steroid problem in MLB, but I fail to see how the balls could be altered in such a way.
Rawlings is not going to "secretly" manufacture a bunch of balls that will perform better and even if they did, how would they ensure that guys like McGwire and Bonds would be hitting them. If you pay attention to a baseball game, you will notice that the "playing time" of an individual ball is very short; so, if these balls were made, there should be a bunch of them out there that could be cut open and examined.
13
posted on
01/04/2007 8:18:03 AM PST
by
wagglebee
("We are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom." -- President Bush, 1/20/05)
To: xzins
McCain will be demanding Senate hearings on why baseballs have rubber rings.
14
posted on
01/04/2007 8:18:47 AM PST
by
TomGuy
To: Right Wing Assault; TommyDale; The_Victor
The construction of the ball, though, could still be checked. Just saw some in half and look. Time in an attic wouldn't change construction would it?
15
posted on
01/04/2007 8:19:28 AM PST
by
xzins
(Retired Army Chaplain and proud of it! Supporting our troops means praying for them to WIN!)
To: xzins
"No changes have been made to the core of the ball through the entire time they have manufactured it."Not addressing the synthetic ring around the core....
16
posted on
01/04/2007 8:21:31 AM PST
by
DCPatriot
("It aint what you don't know that kills you. It's what you know that aint so" Theodore Sturgeon))
To: wagglebee; TomGuy
It would have to be different construction for all the balls.
John McCain would be just the guy to check this out...but not within 90 days of any actual baseball game.
McCain/Feingold CBR 2007 - Core Baseball Reform of 2007
17
posted on
01/04/2007 8:22:43 AM PST
by
xzins
(Retired Army Chaplain and proud of it! Supporting our troops means praying for them to WIN!)
To: randog
The CORE size would not necessarily alter the size of the ball. They would just wrap it tighter. As long as the weight and outer size are within specs, no one would know. There was a report on TV where the balls being made in Central America were being wound too tight.
As far as size, the American League has a slightly smaller specification than the National League ball, or at least they did years ago.
18
posted on
01/04/2007 8:22:44 AM PST
by
TommyDale
(Iran President Ahmadinejad is shorter than Tom Daschle!)
To: xzins
Suppose there was a 10% increase in the number of home runs hit, and the increase was pretty evenly distributed among all players. The simple solutions are that player performance changed significantly in one season or the physical characteristics of the equipment changed significantly to account for the increase in home runs. While player doping may have been widespread in 1998, it is doubtful that the distribution of the increase in home runs would be so uniform across all batters, and shouldn't the pitchers have shown some sort of improvement from doping to counteract the hitters? A juiced baseball is so much more likely the cause as it is the one constant used in all games by all players, and it is the easiest change to accomplish.
The commercial Randy Johnson made "Chicks dig the long ball" merely pointed out what everyone in baseball knew, home runs sell tickets. The owners who were willing to ignore the rampant cheating in the game would surely not be above tweaking the equipment to increase their revenue.
To: xzins
LOL! But would players be allowed to spend their own money on balls?
The bottom line is that if there were a bunch of "juiced" balls being used, there would have been a lot of players with 40 and 50 plus home runs not just McGwire and Sosa.
I suppose if they want to prove it, they could put ads out offering $1000 or something for fouls hit by McGwire and Sosa. For this story to have credibility, they need to find at least one baseball that was used in a game that is cut open and shows these irregularities. My guess would be that several hundred thousand baseballs are used every season, it shouldn't be that hard to find ONE if the story is as widespread as they claim.
20
posted on
01/04/2007 8:30:47 AM PST
by
wagglebee
("We are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom." -- President Bush, 1/20/05)
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