Friday, June 18, 2021

Spider Tack

 Major league baseball has had its share of controversies these last few decades. It seems now that the hitter's cheating with performance enhancing additives has now switched to the pitcher's mound. If you've never heard of 'spider tack', welcome to baseball today.

It was years ago (okay, showing my age) that pitchers used slick or oily substances to add to their grip. They hid it on their belts, caps, inside the glove, anywhere they thought it couldn't be found. The difference is what happens to the ball. With a slick side the ball comes off the hand differently and causes the ball to have a different flight pattern of curving, etc. Advantage, pitcher.

In today's game the opposite is the case. The 'stuff' of choice is called Spider Tack. It is a super sticky substance that allows a better grip on the baseball. It used to be few if any were able to throw a pitch 100+ miles per hour. So rare you could count the pitchers on a single hand over decades. Now, nearly every pitcher is in the high 90s or low 100s. Breaking balls that used to travel in the upper 80s to low 90s now come close to 100 mph. Randy Johnson and Nolan Ryan used to be special in their abilities. No longer, at least for the moment.

So what's the issue Robert? 

I'll tell you. 

This week a pitcher in the majors complained about how he wouldn't be able to throw the way he wanted to now. He would have to put the ball back deeper into his hand and that would affect his pitches. My response to him is, well, obviously you really never learned how to pitch. Pitching isn't only about throwing a ball past a hitter as hard as you can. He never learned to control the ball, never learned to paint the corners, never learned to change speeds, never developed an array of pitches. Some of the best pitchers I followed were masters of the art of pitching. In their youth they had strong arms with significant fast balls but knew how to 'pitch'. Among my favorites were Tom Seaver and Greg Maddux.

Sure, this pitcher is an athlete that can do something I could only covet, but my physical abilities do not compare to his. But the state of baseball is at stake currently. Hitting is at an all-time low and all that seems to happen in a game is either the ball goes out of the park or the hitter strikes out. That isn't much of a game to watch. Few steal bases these days and the strategy of baseball has all but vanished.

I'm fine with MLB policing the game to make it even for both pitcher and hitter but it's time to enforce the rules so baseball remains baseball and not a circus act.

No comments:

Post a Comment