Don’t be surprised to see rules prohibiting foreign substances on catchers next season, given that everyone now knows just how easy it is to cheat.
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Pine tar is a substance that has both legal and illegal purposes in Major League Baseball that has to do with gripping. It became a Twitter controversy, with a few suggesting this was a second pine tar game involving the Royals. “It’s illegal for a pitcher”.
“It’s not illegal for a catcher to get an extra grip”, Yost said. They need a grip on the baseball, so they use pine tar for themselves. If he’s using pine tar in cooperation with the pitcher, then there may be an issue, and that may be what Schilling is implying in his tweet.
Royals manager Ned Yost pointed out after the game on Tuesday that Perez is allowed to use the substance, while according to CBS Sports Mets manager Terry Collins said of the incident; ‘It’s nothing’. I know it’s a bold statement to compare a real-life catcher to a children’s book nanny, but hear me out – Amelia Bedelia’s defining characteristic is that she takes everything literally. “It’s really hard to transfer that on the ball and have it give the pitcher something to hold onto – especially as many times as they throw out balls today”. But Sal is not putting anything on the ball for the pitcher.
“They look for any stupid thing to bring up, but it’s nothing, it’s not illegal for a catcher to get an extra…now a pitcher, it’s illegal. I thought (Tuesday) night, getting to see him as much as we did, will help out”, Collins said.
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“I go back to my days in (the Pacific Coast League in) Albuquerque when it was cold and dry, and I had pitchers, you couldn’t shake their hand because you couldn’t get your hand away from them”, he said. “The argument was, you can either do this or you can let this wild sucker throw a few balls at 95 miles an hour with no command”.
