[Mariner]

It's SPRING!

And it's 20 years after the last great juiced baseball conspiracy.

In 1997 the Mariners set the MLB record for home runs in a season at 264, 4 hitters over 30 HR, 9 hitters over 10 HR and a team .485 slugging percentage.

My oh my, those were the days!

[knarf]

How a baseball is made

[al baby]

Global Warming ?

[OttawaFreeper]

Remember this controversy? From one of my favourite sports flicks, lol.

[MarvinStinson]

The “superiority” of modern athletes.

[JohnBrowdie]

maybe MLB should have let them keep their steroids.

[fso301]

The core of new balls being lighter older balls means the outer portion of newer balls is heavier by comparison. I would assume a weight shift to the outer portion of the ball would produce a more stable flight that takes just a little curve off the curveballs and other pitches.

[pepsionice]

Imagine the 1927 Yankees with this baseball. Ruth would have hit 90 home runs, and Gehrig maybe 60.

[relictele]

The NFL suspends its most famous player for doctoring footballs ie making them different AFTER manufacture in a highly publicized case.

MLB refuses to concede that they intentionally changed the manufacture of baseballs in a cheap bid to spark up fan interest.

[Pontiac]

https://www.si.com/vault/1996/06/24/8103634/forget-the-juiced-ballits-the-bats-that-may-account-for-all-those-homers-special-delivery-in-texas-mo-better

[bkopto]

A baseball is supposed to weigh 5.25 ounces (= 148.835 grams).

So, the new baseballs are 100*(.5/148.835) = 0.33% lighter.

Since the number of homers increased by more than 0.33%, I doubt that weight is the explanation.

(Maybe the elasticity of the baseball changed, which might explain the rise.)

[njslim]

Watch the Yankees this year

JUDGE, SANCHEX, STANTON , etc

It will be raining baseballs in the Bronx this year.......

[blam]

Check the bats, global warming has changed the wood grain.(ahem)

[Truthoverpower]

I’ve said it once
I’ve said it a thousand times
Drugs don’t make you hit a ball like Barry bonds did
If you have a hall of fame and the number one hits leader and home run leader l of all time are not in
It’s not a hall of fame at all then
Hitting a baseball is the hardest thing in sports

[bobby.223]

Hi M. And they placed 3 guys on the sexual nickname all-star team! Jay (The Bone) Buhner, Alex (A-Rod) Rodriguez and Randy (The Big Unit) Johnson!

[RayChuang88]

This may also intensify research into finding new kinds of performance-enhancing drugs (PED’s) that the players may be illegally using.

[yesthatjallen]

People who do this kind of research have too much time on their hands.

More importantly, they do this kind of research and statistical analysis to make a name for themselves so they can be invited to the cocktail parties, salons, and soirées for coming up with an idea no one thought of before and become a name-recognized celeb.

It's selfish self-promotion signifying nothing.

[kanawa]

Flubber

[Figment]

The players are still juicing and the balls are juiced too

[Some Fat Guy in L.A.]

A few years ago home runs and scoring were way down, and players whose only skill was hitting homers (Mark Trumbo, Pedro Alvarez, guys like that) were valuable. Now there are so many homers that those guys have lost value.

I don’t think it’s just the ball though - if it were then all teams would have benefitted. A few teams did not (such as Pittsburgh). Makes me think that uppercut swings are partly responsible. Of course, it could be that the Pirates are just a bunch of lousy hitters, too.