The digital age has not proven kind to pitchers who might be trying to get a little something extra on their offerings. Kenny Rogers became a pariah during the 2006 playoffs because he kept getting caught with what looked exactly like pine tar on his left hand during lights-out performances and now it appears that Jake Peavy of the Padres might have joined him on the list of pitchers caught by crisp, high-definition images.
A reader of the Big Lead was watching the postgame handshakes after Peavy shut down the Dodgers on Saturday afternoon and noticed something dark and, possibly, sinister on his right hand. He sent the above screen capture along and it certainly looks like a right handed version of The Gambler.
Peavy might not be cheating, no matter how much that looks like pine tar on his pitching fingers. He had a gem going against the Dodgers and perhaps he needed to use the facilities during the game and, baseball players being a superstitious lot, didn't want to use toilet paper lest he screw with his mojo. Or it could be dirt or barbeque sauce or something else entirely. He'll probably need to address it this week and, in the future, remember that these newfangled cameras can really pick up everything.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
4-06-2008 @ 7:36PM
Annual loser said...
tell me ain't so joe, hey'''' I want a congressional investigation
Reply
4-06-2008 @ 7:57PM
Greg said...
I don't know what was on Blanton's right hip, and Andrew Brown's leg today against the Indians?
Reply
4-06-2008 @ 8:03PM
Greg said...
Just casually observing it looked like water on Blanton's hip. He went to the wet spot consistently, although maybe thats just his "motions". Brown's looked more obvious (maybe pine tar) but I wasnt paying as close of attention and never saw him go to the spot.
Reply
4-06-2008 @ 9:32PM
BURNBOX said...
It's poop for sure !
Reply
4-06-2008 @ 10:15PM
Ron S said...
Ever since I was in grade school it was always taught to me was that it is not cheating until you get caught.
Reply
4-06-2008 @ 11:20PM
JOE said...
A ball player cheating..No way that can't be. What will I tell my son..... Wait I don't have a son.
Reply
4-06-2008 @ 11:22PM
hootie_69 said...
If thats you're attempt at humor Billy you might want to go with something you're better at like jacking off and reading Mein Kampf at the same time.
Anyway, there is a zero percent chance that Peavy would admit it if he was cheating anyway. All this is going to lead to is a manager making an ump check his hands the next time he's having a good start.
Reply
4-07-2008 @ 12:05AM
Sholloman5000 said...
Pine tar on your pitching hand? Why on earth would any pitcher want to put something that would slow your pitches and make the release unsure on their hands? Is there something I'm missing here? Now if that is dirt sticking to some sort of grease I could see that as cheating.
Reply
4-07-2008 @ 3:52AM
Wild Bill said...
Pine tar on your pitching hand? Why on earth would any pitcher want to put something that would slow your pitches and make the release unsure on their hands? Is there something I'm missing here? Now if that is dirt sticking to some sort of grease I could see that as cheating.
Posted at 12:05AM on Apr 7th 2008 by Sholloman5000
Yes there is something you are missing. I was a catcher for many years, pine tar does make the ball stick to a pitchers hand but that helps them put even more spin than usual on a curve ball. An average curve ball pitcher that has a little pine tar on his hand becomes a curve ball pitcher that no batter can touch.
Reply
4-07-2008 @ 6:08AM
Monty Python 1975 said...
Any kind of foreign substance on your release fingers will make the ball do crazy things. These guys practice, in private, with all kinds of matter that you might normally find on the playing field. Would you believe bird droppings have been used.
Reply
4-07-2008 @ 6:54AM
Teddy said...
Do the think that camara's now day's they can get a way with thing's like that .
Reply
4-07-2008 @ 7:32AM
DEBBIE said...
that is why the stands are empty .....baseball is loosing it's popularity.
are there no real honest athletes anymore?
Reply
4-07-2008 @ 7:43AM
guy said...
he was just picking his nose
Reply
4-07-2008 @ 7:48AM
tom said...
your right about the welfare bill
Reply
4-07-2008 @ 9:16AM
NeonDon said...
Didn't any of you experts ever play ball???? Lick your fingers...like pitchers do all game long (and then dry them on their dirty suits and hats) or rub them in the dirt. (They also rub up the balls, which are not always clean when they come back to a pitcher from an infielder after being ripped on the dirt around the shortstop and taking a hop to the first baseman.), and see what your fingers look like at the end ofa nine-inning game. Cripe, you want them to carry a bottle of Palmolive soap???? Who wrote this tory? Jose Canseco?
Reply
4-07-2008 @ 12:11PM
Reinaldo Roman said...
Fire his ASS!!! That S.O.B. doesn't deserve to get paid millions for cheating!!! I feel sorry for the club fans that have to read the articles in the paper and on the internet.
Reply
4-07-2008 @ 4:31PM
jsanta000 said...
yeah officials are def taking what makes the game great and destroying it. Anyone who feels that a little pinetar or dirt is cheating has never played the game. The way the strike zone is these day and the fact the entire leave is roided up, pitchers need some kind of edge. Peevy is a great ballplayer and all this does is prove that if a team is not hitting the ball the pitcher must be cheating. He threw a gem, get over it Dodgers.
Reply
4-07-2008 @ 8:25PM
reyn said...
jsanta000- you must have played at the major league level or aaa to have played with pine tar- everything else is aluminum bats. i've never touched pine tar in high school play or any leagues i've played in. the brown stuff that one might call dirt on their hands is a nuisance and would be removed by any player once in the dugout. dusty hands are different that dirt. dirt would imply clumping, which again, would bug anybody throwing a baseball at the professional level. don't be ignorant. if the opposing pitcher of your team was caught brown handed you'd raise questions too.
Reply
4-07-2008 @ 8:25PM
reyn said...
NeonDon- i've played lots of baseball. when something is on my finger like dirt i clean it off to get a better grip on the ball. amazing that the dirt managed to avoid every other part of his hand like the other two fingers and palm. you probably believe the players when they say they didn't know what was injected in their butts and told not to tell anybody. if i were to ever pitch in a major league game i would avoid all likeness of cheating- dirty 3 fingers and injecting stuff in my butt especially.
Reply
4-07-2008 @ 9:01PM
Anthony Conaway said...
Make Jake Peavy wash his hands between innings or when his team is hitting and see what happens. Maybe pitchers should be tested at random for foreign substances like hitters should be checked for steroid abuse.
Reply