“They haven’t really talked to us,” Angels pitching coach Mickey Callaway said. ![]() New Jersey Mud is sourced from the New Jersey side of the Delaware River and doesn’t improve grip enough for many pitchers. One possible solution would be for MLB to develop a universal substance that pitchers could use for better grips but that wouldn’t provide a competitive advantage. Major league rules prohibit pitchers from applying any type of foreign item or substance, including pine tar, dirt or saliva, and a failure to follow the rule results in an ejection and automatic 10-game suspension.Ĭincinnati Reds pitcher Trevor Bauer recently told “Real Sports” that 70% of pitchers use some sort of substance - which can be hidden in gloves, on caps, on skin and even in hair - to enhance their grip. An attendant in the umpire’s room rubs eight dozen to 12 dozen baseballs with a concoction known as New Jersey Mud, which removes the sheen from the balls and improves the grip for pitchers. Whatever they want to do.”īullfrog is a sunscreen widely used in baseball as well as other outdoor sports.īaseballs used in MLB are given to umpires before every game. Most everybody is getting something from somewhere, creating their own. “I said most everybody is probably using it. “C’mon, man,” Heaney said, chafing at the question. Was the Go Go Juice that Harkins sold to visiting players also made available to the Angels? The answer is unclear. No one thinks it’s shocking that people are using sticky stuff on their fingers.” “I think everybody knows that most guys are doing it,” Heaney said. But MLB informed teams in February that it would crack down on those substances.Īngels pitcher Andrew Heaney admitted he has “messed around” with various concoctions in order to get a better grip on the ball, and he believes the use of foreign substances by pitchers in the game is widespread. Pitchers have long been afforded the benefit of the doubt by the league when it comes to using pine tar or combining sunscreen with rosin to enhance their grip on baseballs, so long as the efforts were concealed from view. ![]() He could not be reached for comment after his dismissal. ![]() He was respected within his profession and was voted visiting clubhouse manager of the year by MLB equipment managers in 2005. He started as a batboy in 1981 and worked his way up to a leadership position in equipment management. Harkins, nicknamed “Bubba,” had worked for the Angels for more than 30 years.
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