Do you believe Sammy Sosa?

[arthurracoon]

I believe him.

 

[Dback Jon]

I believe it was an accident.

 

[Card Trader]

He knew it and got caught.....I'm glad.

 

[Matrix31]

I dont believe it was an accident. If you have a bat that is corked to show off during batting practice you have to clearly mark that bat and you definately dont keep it with your other bats. Also, as the guest on PTI just said, players will notice when they pick up a bat that is lighter than the bats they usually use. I dont believe that he always used them, thats just too risky, but i dont believe this time was an accident.

 

[Ryanwb]

I think he was frustrated and decided to give it a shot to try and get back on track. I remember this old pitcher in the 80's who said he was so frustrated about pitching so bad that before he left the clubhouse he pulled a thumbtack off the bulliten board and taped it to his thumb. Well...during the course of the game he kept wiping the sweat off his forehead and ended up with all of these cuts on his head and was bleeding all over the place during the game

 

[moviegeekjn]

Originally posted by arthurracoon
I believe him.

Players that have deliberately attempted to cheat with a bat, are more than anxious to retrieve the pieces after the bat breaks... Sammy was oblivious to the situation, showing no signs of panic.

 

[Charles V]

I think he was frustrated and decided to give it a shot to try and get back on track.

It's funny because David Justice said the exact opposite. That the best time to cork is when you are hitting the ball well. He said the worst time to cork is when you are struggling to find a groove and run a much higher chance of getting jammed or sawed off.

Who knows though?

That said, I believe Sammy. Reason being, that Joe Morgan said that the rest of the Sammy's bats in the dugout have been X-Rayed and there was no sign of any other altered bats.

He was stupid however, to even have a corked bat in the mix with the others during game time.

 

[Matrix31]

Watching Sportscenter Rick Reilly and Dibble had some interesting points. Dibbly talked about only having a few bats that you would actually use for game situations and you could tell the difference between all the rest just by feel and weight. I sitll find it almost impossible to believe that a player that uses a certain kind of bat with a certain weight would not be able to tell the difference between a bat that is corked and weighs less.

 

[IndyDevil]

Sosa was hitting something like 2 out of his last 17, with only one HR since getting beaned a few weeks ago - he needed something to help him break out of his batting funk, so I think he knew exactly which bat he was using.

I agree with several others who said that having a corked bat anywhere near his game bats was absolutely boneheaded on his part!! On the other hand, I believe the Cubs did pretty well when he was on the DL, so maybe they will survive his impending suspension.

 

[DbaxJ]

True, that can be difficult to believe..... but they do just grab one, head out to the OD circle, and then pick up the lead, or put weights on right away. In the heat of it, one oz or so can be missed, or not even thought about, but still it does sound not too good for him.

 

[Dback Jon]

Originally posted by Matrix31
Watching Sportscenter Rick Reilly and Dibble had some interesting points. Dibbly talked about only having a few bats that you would actually use for game situations and you could tell the difference between all the rest just by feel and weight. I sitll find it almost impossible to believe that a player that uses a certain kind of bat with a certain weight would not be able to tell the difference between a bat that is corked and weighs less.

But then Mark Prior came on, and talked about how Sammy has bats all over the dugout.

How much of a weight difference would there be?

 

[Card Trader]

It would be a difference of 1 or 2oz......which may not sound like alot but is definately noticeable. When I was playing ball in school I could tell the difference between a 30oz bat and a 29oz bat......for a professional that plays baseball the entire year and has for many many years he could and would SURELY know the difference of an ounce or two. No question.

 

[DbaxJ]

I played too, and yes there is a difference, 1 oz though isnt that much of a difference. Hell, I still play SB and unless I can read the thing, I dont know what the bat weight is sometimes.... Fact is, Sammy Effed up! Flat out... if it was a BP bat, for putting on a show, whatever, it still should have been totally different from all his other bats, so there could not be a mistake made like the one last night!

 

[SunCityCarl]

Sammy's 76 other bats .... clean...

 

[Ryanwb]

Originally posted by SunCityCarl
Sammy's 76 other bats .... clean...

I just heard they want to pull his bats from the Hall of Fame and check them...........stupid!!!!

 

[Card Trader]

Originally posted by SunCityCarl
Sammy's 76 other bats .... clean...

Those the bats that they waited for 3 innings to collect after Sosa had been ejected? Yeah...they were.

Do you think a person that uses a corked bat corks all of their bats? It only takes one....it breaks, you are screwed anyways.

 

[jbeecham]

How do they know that Sammy didn't remove any other corked bats before they were collected? Of course the ones he allowed them to take would be clean. I don't believe Sammy for a second and I think he deserves an asterisk next to his home run total in his stats because no one knows how many of those HR's were hit with a corked bat.

 

[Russ Smith]

Originally posted by Dback Jon
But then Mark Prior came on, and talked about how Sammy has bats all over the dugout.

How much of a weight difference would there be?

An ounce or two but you can tell.

I like to flyfish and you wouldn't believe how anglers obsess about the weights of flyrods and flyreels and again we're talking ounces. I have seen guys complain about the type of metal used on the rod guids because "it's too heavy".

A bat weighs more than a flyrod but you can still tell the difference, if you couldn't nobody would ever cork a bat there would be no value. Dr. Adair(Physics of baseball) insists his test show corking doesn't work but players must think it does they've been doing it for years.

 

[PDXChris]

Originally posted by jbeecham
How do they know that Sammy didn't remove any other corked bats before they were collected? Of course the ones he allowed them to take would be clean. I don't believe Sammy for a second and I think he deserves an asterisk next to his home run total in his stats because no one knows how many of those HR's were hit with a corked bat.

They were not removed becuae they took them during the 2nd inning.