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Louis Kazagger
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Okay, my question to you on that would be who is doing the testing of those bats? Was it an independant source, or was it Major League Baseball? If it's Major League Baseball, do you really think that they'd tell us if they found cork in some of those other bats?
Conspiracy theory begins..... I mean, arguably, Sammy Sosa is one of their most marketable stars and recognizable faces in the game today (seen on a national cable network nearly on a daily basis, so he's more than a regional star). Would baseball really allow a further black eye to the game by telling us if they found something?
I mean, really, they allow steroid use, and really have no interest in cleaning up that part of the game, why would bat corking be any different?
I know, you're going to say that baseball has steroid testing. But they don't really. The testing process is a joke. They test each player once a year, either at Spring training or at the middle of the season. And the players know ahead of time when they are getting tested, so it is very easy to run steroid cycles around the two testing periods without ever getting caught. It isn't a drug test, it's an IQ test, because you'd have to be a halfwit to fail a test with that system. The testing process is just window dressing to make it seem like they're doing something about the problem, but they aren't and could really care less, because they believe that these hulking monsters who hit the long ball put people in the seats (even though attendance records would suggest otherwise). When you compare baseball's testing process to that of the NFL, where a dozen or so guys from each team are tested at random every week, you can see the vast difference.
So, from the same league that cares little if players cheat with performance enhancing drugs, why would it be so hard to believe that they'd cover up corked bats? They could do nothing about the bat on the field because it was there for all to see, but I think baseball recognizes the fact that they need their heroes, and I wouldn't put it past them to try to put a positive spin on this any way they can.....
It's a different age we're in today. In the past, the media was on the side of baseball. If Mickey Mantle came to the ballpark drunk or Babe Ruth had a hangover, the sportswriters who traveled with the team never said a word. Today, that's good copy for a story. The media tears down heroes for a story, they don't build them up nowadays. So, someone has to do it. How about the organization that benefits the most from it? I mean, they even gave him one of the lightests suspensions (most players caught have gotten ten games, then had them reduced to seven or eight on appeal, but Sosa got eight from the start). Just something to think about.
Having said all that, I'm a huge Sosa fan, and I'd like to think it was a one time thing (although I do think he knew what bat he had, trying to break out of his slump with this "psychologically" superior lumber), and I've seen him break a ton of bats during a game and no one ever found cork before, but it does raise skepticism about everything he's ever done to this point.
