Sammy Sosa busted with a corked bat.

[UNT96]

To me this is shocking, Sosa is a great guy and a class act. This really puts a dark cloud over his head for his past achievements and current achievements.

[IronMan4]

He's on my fantasy team too. <_<

He has been struggling very badly since he returned from his foot injury and maybe he just now used an ilegal bat to get out of his slump. I am sure that his past seasons assaults on the home run records will be investigated very closely.

[UNT96]

His official excuse is that he previously had been using it for bat practice to give the fans a show and that it just made it's way into his batting routine.

[UNTLifer]

His official excuse is that he previously had been using it for bat practice to give the fans a show and that it just made it's way into his batting routine.

They is a ridiculous excuse and this incident goes hand in hand with his outburst at Rick Reilly over the steriod question. Juicing his body and his bat, no matter how nice he is to the fans, does not equate to a "class act."

[CMJ]

I wonder how much this will tarnish his 500 homeruns. Scientifically speaking corked bats don't help *that* much(a few feet is all).

If he's always used a corked bat how many fewer HR are we talking about 10-20?

[IronMan4]

They is a ridiculous excuse and this incident goes hand in hand with his outburst at Rick Reilly over the steriod question. Juicing his body and his bat, no matter how nice he is to the fans, does not equate to a "class act."

A couple of things about that. I think players using a corked bat for batting practice and for exhibitions is fairly common. I'm not saying that he it was for sure an accident or not, but it's a lot more likely than you would think.

Before I get into the next part, let me say that when I saw last year's home run derby I thought Sosa was clearly insane and on something. In between rounds he would go in the hall and swing his bat with a crazed look in his eye, nearly taking the head off a guard, while the other contestants hung out on the field with their families or other players. I think that he probably has been on steroids at one point or another...the only MLB players I think are on roids are Sosa, Eric Gagne, Bret Boone, and now retried Mark McGwire. I don't think Sosa was on it his whole career, or is even on it year round, but I do think something is up there.

About Reilly. I can't blame Sosa for letting him have it. This is about the same time that Reilly wrote the amazingly sensationalized article on Barry Bonds and his relationship with his teamates. In a related story, Bonds turned down an interview...hmm, I wonder if Bonds hurt Reilly's ego (who has contracted the Dale Hansen disorder of thinking he is above the stories he reports), so a stinging commentary resulted? Players read this, they talk to each other, and Reilly must have known he would not be welcomed by Sosa. Hell, if I was a star athlete and I saw Reilly I would turn and run. I wouldn't even take the time to tell him off. Reilly also has wrote numerous articles diminishing Michael Jordan, which pissed me off even before the whole Bonds-Sosa thing. What would Sosa benefit from letting Reilly test him? What proof would there be that the testing would be fair? I mean would Reilly have something to write about if he tested him and he was clean? Hell no. Stories about what's good in sports don't sell copies of magazines, scandal and juicy details of someone's demise do (see recent lengthy article on Kirby Puckett's life porblems). I don't think Sosa's reaction to Reilly has any correlation with the corked bat or anyone's belief in possible steroid use. I think it has to do with his disdain for the writer, and in my opnion, rightfully so.

[IronMan4]

I think players using a corked bat for batting practice and for exhibitions is fairly common.

At least that's what I heard last night from som players, but maybe they were covering Sosa's ass. And if he did use corked bats for practice, you would think he would mark them so that they could never ever be used in a game.

[CMJ]

It seems like a lame excuse, but then again I heard some ex-players say the same thing(about using corked bats in practice). So maybe it was just a mistake, but like Aaron said mark the damn thing clearly.

[UNTLifer]

Why even use them for batting practice and take the chance of "accidentally" picking that bat up during the game. They shouldn't cork them period!

I would also add Barry Bonds to the steriod user list, along with a few more I can't think of at the moment that are much bigger now than they were a few years ago.

[CMJ]

They probably shouldn't but it seems alot of players hit with them during BP. Maybe to see how far they jack a ball - who knows the reason.

More and more players and exes seem are saying it's not that uncommon though.

[IronMan4]

Mike Kiley of The Chicago Sun-Times reports Chicago Cubs infielder Lenny Harris defended teammate Sammy Sosa but also shed some light on the practice of doctoring bats. "We lost our best player, and hopefully he's not gone too long,'' Harris said. "I hope the penalty is light and not too heavy because we need him. Corked bats for batting practice are everywhere, to be honest. I told him to just deal with it and get your life back together.''

Thought I remembered hearing that somewhere.

[IronMan4]

A couple of things that favor Sammy:

MLB confiscated 76 of his bats and they are all clean. Link

Tim Cowlishaw of the DMN pointed out on Around the Horn that if he was using a corked bat his whole career, don't you think that one of the bats he broke then would have had cork in them? It's not like this is the first bat he has broke in his career.

Both of those points plus the above quote from that player lend credibility to Sammy's story.

[Zeke]

He may have broken many bats before, but usually bats break at the thin part of the bat and not split all the way up the barrel.

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

After being "dead" for over as month ..." political cage fighting" has unfortunately returned ....... maybe this is relevant now as well.....

[UNT90]

Boo hoo.

[CMJ]

[UNTFan23]

After being "dead" for over as month ..." political cage fighting" has unfortunately returned ....... maybe this is relevant now as well.....

This thread was mummified if the political cage fighting thread has been dead for only a month.

[Green P1]