Michigan Pitcher Willie Weiss Suspended 4 Games for using a Foreign Substance
During the bottom of the fifth inning, the umpiring crew inspected the glove of Michigan pitcher #20 Willie Weiss to verify if it was in compliance with NCAA Baseball rule 9-2 c, which states: 9-2 c: The pitcher shall not have on their person or possess any foreign substance. The pitcher may apply rosin to his bare his hand or may use bare hands to rub the ball. The pitcher or defensive player(s) shall not apply any foreign substance or moisture to the ball or to the pitcher hand or fingers, or do anything to deface the ball. Upon inspection by the umpires, the glove was determined to be in clear violation of the NCAA Baseball rule 9-2 c, resulting in his ejection from the game and an additional four-game suspension.
Can't edit the title. Sorry about the typo. Mods, if you could please fix it, it would be appreciated.
I'm on it!
If you ain't cheatin' you ain't tryin'
Joe Niekro says Hi! (while filing down his fingernails...)
Gaylord Perry jumps in to say hi (still wiping the brylcream from his hand)
Kenny Rogers (NTKR) wipes some pine tar off his hand and says hi.
Don't do the crime if you can't do the time
It is easy not to steal when one isn't hungry
I don't mind stealing bread from the mouths of decadents.
I would rather starve than eat your bread.
I wasn't following the game. How many pitches did he throw yesterday?
Maybe half a dozen. Hit the first batter and got to a 2-2 count on the second one.
It ended up working out for Michigan, as the next guy was lights out.
That's how good Bakich is. Gets the right guy in to shut the opponent down.
Fire Bakich (obligatory).
I wonder exactly what's meant by clear violation in this case?
Ringer piece on the topic from last summer:
It looked pretty obvious that he had something that wasn't allowed, coach looked at it and walked back to the dugout lol
Maybe I don't know what I'm looking for, but they twice showed a replay of the catcher throwing it back to the pitcher. Was there something subtle in that exchange that I should be seeing?
Edit: Never mind. It looks like he is clearly touching something on his glove from 1:48-1:50.
It's where he is handling the glove before he pitches. He reaches into the belt for the goop and looks like he is battering his fingers like fried chicken, LOL.
He needs to be careful reaching into his pants. Don't want to get that shit on the short and curlies.
I was thinking the same thing. Better mow the grass before trying that!
But it does help with the grip.
Yeah Bakich didn't even put up a small argument. Must have been pretty obvious.
Weiss needs to be sat down for the tournament. You dont accidentally cheat. His actions were a slap in the face of the team.
Baseball isn't my sport, but I usually attend a game or two a year. This year I didn't (because....schedules). I turned on the tournament yesterday and within an inning of my first exposure to this team....we get caught cheating. I'm having trouble celebrating yesterday's success.
He really wasn't a factor. It isn't great, but I'm glad it wasn't a close game. I don't want to take away from the other players who played a whale of a game. It's OK to be pissed that he cheated and still cheer for the team's success.
I get it, I'm not overjoyed about it either. But we won easily and Weiss barely pitched. We weren't Trashto-ing by any stretch of the imagination.
Look, players in baseball cheat. This has been going on since the game was invented.
If he did this under instructions from the staff, then yeah, it sucks and there is a problem. If he did this on his own to get an edge then whatever--he got caught and is now properly punished.
Do you not think there are players on Michigan's football team that have taken performance enhancing drugs? I'm not saying this year but over the years? Of course some of them have--we've be naive to think otherwise. But if it is something a player does on their own you can't just piss on the entire team over it. It's only a problem if the cheating is directed by the staff or if the staff knows widespread cheating is going on and looks the other way.
Up until the middle of last year, pitchers in MLB were abusing "sticky stuff" to a crazy degree. It is only logical to think that the lower level pitchers were following their lead.
Cheating in baseball is American as apple pie.
For those ancient tigers fans out there, y’all remember Norm “the carpenter” cash. He got that nickname because he doctored all the bats. While the tigers didn’t have a weight room until the late 80’s, they did have drill presses and other wood working tools in a shop.
then there are the niekro and perry brothers…
Lol if you think Weiss is just pulling this with nobody on the team knowing and that most teams don’t have guys doing this. He just got too obvious and got caught.
Well... he sucks at it so I'm guessing he at least wasn't "coached" to do it.
Spiders must have gotten into my glove, ump!!
Is spit considered a "foreign substance"?
Juuuuuusssst a bit outside!
Great line from a great character in a great movie..
Thanks!
Bob Uecker is the greatest. I had to look up his MLB stats though. The -1.0 WAR is impressive!!! But, anyone making it to the show has my admiration.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/u/ueckebo01.shtml
It looks like it was only his last season where he put up -2.0 that takes him into the negative, he had a net positive WAR before that.
You have to remember, anyone who is a 0 WAR player is essentially a better baseball player than 99.9% of the rest of us. That means they are an AVERAGE MLB player. That's quite an accomplishment, given how many guys never get to the majors.
Yeah, they are usually journeyman role-players/backups/whatever. They still made it.
0 WAR is not average. it's the equal of a minor league replacement player; ie. a AAAA type.
14 of the players who have posted stats for the Tigers this year have negative WAR.
Maybe "average" wasn't the right term. My point was a 0 WAR player doesn't suck in the grand scheme of things. They just aren't starter quality.
Unfortunately, this is pretty common and it definitely happens in high school ball.
We played our nearest rival last week. But they had already clinched our conference championship. 2 of their 3 pitchers , I could tell where they were doctoring from. Our head coach is smarter than I am though. They are our 1st game in districts on Saturday and there will definitely be an inspection or 2..
Let us know how that turns out.
If they had already clinched the conference title, I don't understand why they would risk getting caught cheating in a meaningless game and get suspended for the tournament.
Because it's what they do. Pitchers are nothing if not creatures of habit. Golfers are the only thing even close in athletics. If you're winning because you're using spider tack, or Crisco, or vagisil.. than you are.
And I will update after districts..
I promised you a reply, so this is it. Our head coach chose not to challenge it. We lost in a game where our guys played at a level that is admirable. The kid definitely had something inside his glove that he was rubbing down the ball with, but we had 5 hits, 5 walks, and 5 strikeouts. Against a kid with a .20 ERA. They were just better. And their 2nd pitcher probably matched up better against us..
As I said before, our head coach is far smarter than I am. And we played a good game, just got beat. Tip of the cap.
I guess we'll have to call him Wet Willie now.
What about Slick Willie?
Eh, not so slick. Sticky Will maybe.
No doubt what Monica Lewinsky thought.
/I'll show myself out
not like him.
...seems unWeiss.