Comments on: Heath Bell also believes Rockies are cheating

By: MLB tweaks the humidor procedure at Coors Field | HardballTalk

MLB tweaks the humidor procedure at Coors Field | HardballTalk — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 13:34:41 +0000

[...] year there were rumblings — primarily from the Giants, but from others as well — that the Rockies were messing with the baseballs from the humidor at Coors Field, giving [...]

By: Omega in Colorado

Omega in Colorado — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 15:19:45 +0000

I am biased, this is my hometown team here, but I still say ‘prove it’. Hunches and veiled accusations aren’t proof. Show me proof, I would say this about any team in the league about any accusations of cheating.

By: Gorilla

Gorilla — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 10:56:56 +0000

It’s not like there is “Rockies pitcher’s balls” and “Giants pitcher’s balls”. All the game balls are lumped together. So how is that cheating?
Actually there is a difference between Rockies pitcher’s balls and Giants pitcher’s. The Rockies pitchers had theirs fall off about 10 games ago. But that’s a different story.

By: Kiwicricket

Kiwicricket — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 06:29:35 +0000

Gee….I don’t know…..Perhaps get rid of the humidor?

By: NickFromWA

NickFromWA — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 05:40:21 +0000

And now he has deleted all related Tweets.

By: David

David — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 04:21:25 +0000

Let’s count the credible, accomplished men who have stated that the Rockies are cheating (all this from 20 seconds of searching on Google):
1) JON MILLER: “You know, there’s a feeling that the Rockies are doing something with the humidor-stored baseballs and sometimes, that perhaps late in these games when the Rockies need some help, some non-humidor baseballs are being slipped into the mix”
(Note: That was in July.)
2) TIM LINCECUM: “Fuckin’ juiced ball. It’s fuckin’ bullshit.”
(Note: Lincecum confirmed that he said this to beat writer Andrew Baggarly. “If they’ve got somebody videotaping me, I guess I can’t live it down.”)
3) HEATH BELL: “Yes they do”. Meaning “Yes [the Rockies] do [cheat].”
But they’re all just wacko conspiracy theorists. Seriously, type in “Rockies juiced ball conspiracy theory” in Google and all you’ll get are dozens of articles mocking anybody who dares to believe that anybody ever conspires. Then read the comments and you’ll see that 99% of them agree with the writers, “Tin-foil hat wearin’ conspiracy loons!”
We’ve been taught by the mainstream media that nobody ever conspires, and we’ve obeyed. Although I could’ve sworn that my brothers and I probably conspired 20,000 times when we were growing up (how to skip school, how to sneak into R-rated movies, how rig the Mortal Kombat arcade so we didn’t need quarters, etc., etc., etc.)….I’ve now been cleansed and I see the Glory of the Mainstream Media. I now agree that the idea of two people planning a secret is totally wacko. In fact, God knows how the word “conspiracy” was ever created in the first place. So, I think that any prosecutor that every tries to indict somebody for “conspiracy to commit murder” should be locked up in an asylum ’cause he’d obviously be a “wacko”. And I think that anybody who’s ever been convicted of “fraud and conspiracy” should be released immediately, ’cause there ain’t no such thing as conspiracies (Fox News said so!)
And Lincecum smokes weed, he’s got long hair, and he lives in San Francisco. You don’t wanna be like HIM do you? Send the hippie to Guantanamo where a thick toilet plunger will purify him of his conspiracy-believing heresies.

By: Tony A

Tony A — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 01:01:44 +0000

Question that hadn’t occurred to me prior to this discussion. Is Colorado REQUIRED to use the humidor?
Was under the impression that this was something that the team had decided to do on their on, with the permission of MLB…

By: Jess_Ball

Jess_Ball — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 00:48:31 +0000

You know what they could try? Bring in Tim Wakefield. A knuckleball pitcher would probably rather have a rigid non-humidor ball to keep the spin off a bit. He could tell you right away.
As for the Giants – while I am rooting for you guys, can you please stop saying you took all 4 games from us in July when I know d*mn well that all four of our starters couldn’t have been tipping pitches? Burrel and Huff got on my nerves.
There.
As for Maddux – from what I’ve read (and I’m kind of biased because he’s my favorite)’; is that he actually pretended to do all sorts of things to make it appear as though the ball was being doctored just to mess with people. He was openly accused over the years, and his answer was “maybe…maybe not. I don’t know.” I guess he could have scuffed it on a bad day, and maybe once he was squeezed in the strike zones after 2002. But I’ve read it was something to alter the pace of the game. If that’s true, it’s kind of awesome to say you are doctoring the ball and making it obvious enough that it draws the attention of the manager and umpire and the player waiting in the box…

By: schmedley

schmedley — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 22:52:00 +0000

Maybe that’s why the Phillies bullpen coach had the binoculars that time? He wasn’t stealing signs, he was spying on the Rockies and making sure that they weren’t cheating. So not only is Jim Tracy a big crybaby, but he’s also a big hypocrite.

By: NickFromWA

NickFromWA — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 21:49:44 +0000

haha, he is backtracking now: http://twitter.com/HeathBell21/status/25741663622 Twitter account canceled in 3, 2, 1...

By: NickFromWA

NickFromWA — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 21:47:05 +0000

haha, he is backtracking now: http://twitter.com/HeathBell21/status/25741663622 Twitter account canceled in 3, 2, 1...

By: carey

carey — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 21:12:07 +0000

It always has been said that “empty wagons make the most noise”. Any way,one of baseballs contribution to our greatest past time is……………………CHEATING. Let’s count the ways. Sand paper,vasoline,soap(Greg Maddux) and other doctoring methods,nail files.(See Gaylord Perry) Cork bats,water down infields. The Giants were good at this in the sixties to slow down Maury Wills! Growing the infield grass long,cutting it short. For indoor arenas,blowing in more air,dimming lights. I’m sure all of you can come up with something!

By: SonofCalifornia

SonofCalifornia — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 20:46:34 +0000

The umps keep the balls in their pouch…it would be hard, if not impossible to know when they run out of juiced and non-juiced balls between innings and/or batters…

By: Paper Lions

Paper Lions — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 20:08:18 +0000

Have it tested? You want them to put the ball in statis so they can test its humidity content later? They could just weigh the balls to ensure that they have sufficient water content….but all such things would need to be done (essentially) immediately. The allegation, as I understand it, is that the Rockies sub-in balls that have been allowed to dry out or that were never put in the humidor.

By: basedrum777

basedrum777 — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 19:56:29 +0000

Keep the ball after the play if you think it was juiced and have it tested. Instead of giving it back to the Ump toss it to the bench and have it tested. Easy solution. Of course the Rockies might stop now that they have been outed….