- Playing
- In Baseball Anyway, Crime Sometimes Does Pay
- From
- Dick Meister
This is a light-hearted commentary on the widespread, illegal -- and successful -- use of pine tar by baseball pitchers eager to make the ball do curious, unhittable things as it heads toward batters. It notes that if , as charged, the Detroit Tigers' Kenny Rogers did indeed smear some of the stuff on his pitching hand during his winning World Series stint against the St. Louis Cardinals, he was merely doing what many others have done. The cmmentary notes the key role that the legendary baseball manager, Casey Stengel, played in spread of the deceptive practice.
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Related Pieces
Piece Description
This is a light-hearted commentary on the widespread, illegal -- and successful -- use of pine tar by baseball pitchers eager to make the ball do curious, unhittable things as it heads toward batters. It notes that if , as charged, the Detroit Tigers' Kenny Rogers did indeed smear some of the stuff on his pitching hand during his winning World Series stint against the St. Louis Cardinals, he was merely doing what many others have done. The cmmentary notes the key role that the legendary baseball manager, Casey Stengel, played in spread of the deceptive practice.
Broadcast History
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Transcript
OK, let?s talk a little about that fuss over pitcher Kenny Rogers apparently using what baseball rules call an illegal ?foreign substance.? You know, him putting a bit of pine tar on his pitching hand to help the Detroit Tigers win game two of the World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals.
It figures that the dark smear discovered on Rogers? pitching hand was indeed pine tar. And why not? Pine tar has been used for a long time by pitchers to make the baseball twist and turn in baffling ways as it heads toward the batter.
Rogers got off easy. He was merely ordered to wash the stuff off his hand. Which he did, of course -- and then went on to win the ballgame.
Remember Casey Stengel, one of the greatest baseball managers of all time? The manager whose New York Yankee teams won all those World Series? Well, old Casey was an enthusiastic backer of pine tar long before Kenny Rogers...
Read the full transcript
Timing and Cues
INTRO: Commentator Dick Meister says cheating in baseball has been around for a long time.
OUTRO: Dick Meister is a San Francisco writer.
