MLB, pitchers agree ball is juiced, Rob Manfred isn’t stopping it
Not only did this week provide the best Home Run Derby of its 34 years of existence and one of the best All-Star Games of its 99, we got a bonus: most significant player/commissioner dispute in 20 years.
Justin Verlander, American League starting pitcher in the only All-Star Game that’s worth watching, accused Rob Manfred of tampering with the baseballs. MLB hasn’t had a duel of this caliber since Pete Rose and Bart Giamatti fought to the death. All too literally in the case of Giamatti.
Verlander started it. He’s the standout pitcher of his time, a certain Hall of Famer, and he’s chapped about leading the major leagues in home runs allowed – 26, which puts him on pace to reach the record of 50.
Normally if you tie Bert Blyleven in anything it’s a wonderful achievement, but 50 gophers is not something you want, no matter who owns them.
“Major League Baseball is turning this game into a joke,” Verlander said. He was referring to the home-run rate this season being 9% higher than the record set in 2017. Verlander’s view drew support from long-time baseball writer Woody Paige, who observed that baseballs “are flying like ICBMs.”
Verlander’s connect-the-dots reasoning goes like this: “Major League Baseball owns Rawlings, and you’ve got (Commissioner) Rob Manfred saying it might be the way they’re centering the pill. If any other $40 billion company bought out a $400 million company, and the product changed dramatically, it’s not a guess what happened. When Manfred first came in, he said, ‘We want more offense.’ It’s not a coincidence the balls are juiced. We’re not idiots.”
Surprisingly, Manfred verified that the essence of what Verlander is saying is true. He said scientists have confirmed that “the baseballs are different this year; there’s less drag on them.”
Where the commissioner respectfully disagrees is the contention that he directed this change, that he or someone from his office asked Rawlings to tighten the stitching or make the horsehide smoother.
Both these men could be right. The ball has changed. Rawlings made changes Manfred would want, without the commissioner or anyone from his office needing to tell them.
It’s like the name on the USS John S. McCain getting covered up. Did the President order it? I very much doubt it. The anonymous officer who made that decision believed it’s what his commander in chief would like for him to do.
If Rob Manfred didn’t like how the balls came out, he would have told the Rawlings scientists to add more drag.
Doesn’t matter who said what when. What does matter is where we go from here. Do we want baseball to be an arcade game? Instead of Take Me Out to the Ballgame, let’s play Pinball Wizard.
Baseball’s attendance and television ratings have been in decline for the past two years, even with all the dingers. Baseball is losing fans because so much of the game is getting lost. The opposite-field double, the hit-and-run, the squeeze.
Granted, Tuesday’s All-Star Game, a 4-3 win for the perennially successful American League, was more a banquet of small-ball than large. It was the exception, though it fits the eternal baseball dynamic. Great pitching beats great hitters. That probably will never change.
