Michael Pineda wasn’t the first pitcher to be caught using a strange substance during a game. In fact, it’s happened fairly regularly over the years.
The Yankees right-hander was ejected Wednesday night after umpires found a foreign substance on his neck.
On Tuesday, Pineda was handed a 10-game suspension, and it’s not the first time a pitcher’s been banned for a baseball doctoring — Tampa Bay’s Joel Peralta, Brendan Donnelly of the Los Angeles Angels and St. Louis’s Julian Tavarez have been suspended over the past decade.
With that in mind, here are some high-profile examples of pitchers who have either been caught red-handed or later admitted to cheating.
Kenny Rogers: The most prominent incident occurred in Game 2 of the 2006 World Series when TV cameras noticed a “smudge” on Rogers’ throwing hand. Once the umpires were notified, Rogers was forced to clean the smudge of his hand or he would be ejected from the game. Rogers complied and went on to throw eight scoreless innings in the Tigers’ victory. After the game, St. Louis Cardinals hitting coach Hal McRae called out Rogers for using pine tar and “scuffling the ball.”
“It was so blatant,” Cardinals hitting coach Hal McRae told USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. “What was so strange about it was how obvious it was, in the World Series. It’s a shame a guy would cheat in a World Series game. It hurts the integrity of the game.”
“He wasn’t just cheating by using pine tar; he was scuffing balls, too. We collected about five or six balls that are scuffed. He had to be using his fingernails or something.”
Whitey Ford: The Hall of Famer isn’t only famous for being attacked with pretzels during an episode of the Simpsons. The former New York Yankees pitcher admitted to using all kind of illegal techniques after his career was over. “I didn’t cheat until later in my career when I needed something extra to survive,” he told FoxSports.com. “I didn’t cheat when I won the 25 games in 1961. I didn’t cheat in 1963 when I won 24 games. Well, maybe a little.”
According to SI’s Jay Jaffe, Ford said he would use his belt buckle, wedding ring or catcher’s shinguard to scuff the ball. He also admitted to using “gunk” – which consisted of baby oil, turpentine and resin.
Joe Niekro: Niekro, the brother of Hall of Fame hurler Phil Niekro, was caught cheating in 1987 while pitching for the Minnesota Twins. During one of his starts that season, he tried to quickly get rid of a piece of sandpaper and an emery board when asked by an umpire to empty his pockets. He was caught in the act and despite his claims that the emery board was used for his nails (and sandpaper for blisters?), he received a 10-game suspension for the act.
Jay Howell: Like Rogers, Los Angles Dodgers pitcher Jay Howell was involved in an incident during the post-season. During game three of 1988 NLCS, Howell was ejected against the New York Mets when an umpire noticed pine tar on his glove. Howell claimed that it was being used to help his grip. After he was ejected, the Dodgers closer was suspended for three days (later reduced to two). The Dodgers were then forced to use Orel Hershiser in the closer’s role but the team went on to win the NLCS in seven games before defeating Oakland in the World Series.
Preacher Roe: Many wondered how Preatcher Roe was so successful late into his 30s. His teammates believed it was thanks to what was referred to as a “Beech-Nut Curve.” Beech Nut was a chewing gum that could be used to help produce spit for curve balls. Essentially, it was a way for Roe to doctor the balls.
“One way I figured out to keep my fingers clean, was to wipe ‘em on the visor of my baseball cap,” he told Sports Illustrated in 1955. “ It looked like I was adjusting it on my head. I always made certain the visor was kept clean. I even went to the trouble of brushing it off with a towel on the bench between innings.
“It didn’t take long for some of the hitters to figure there was something going on between my spitter and the way I fingered the cap. That was just fine for me. I started using the gesture as a decoy. That was as good as the pitch itself. From then on, even when I wasn’t going to throw a wet one, I’d go to my cap just to cross them up.”
