The Major League Baseball Commissioners Office reviewed available video and still photography from Mariano Rivera spitting toward a baseball in the ALCS Game 3 and "found no evidence that Rivera spit on the ball."
The initial reaction by the league had been that the video plus still pictures they have of the incident were inconclusive if Rivera actually spit on or near the ball. But after further review of what it had, the Commissioners Office determined that Rivera was not spitting directly on the ball. On still pictures in MLB's possession, it apparently looks as if Rivera is spitting near, but not on, the ball (that's what they say).
The incident came when Rivera came in the game in the middle of the 10th inning, between his warm up pitches and his 1st pitch to Erick Aybar. Jeff Mathis had just doubled to lead off the inning and there were no outs. But then it what happened..........
Rivera finished throwing his eight warm up pitches and then proceeded to spit on the ball. He then threw strike one to Aybar. Then Aybar bunted the second pitch, and Rivera threw wildly to third to leave first and third with no out. So from the spitting on the ball until Aybar bunts, there is probably a minimum of a minute that elapses and the ball has been caught once by Jorge Posada and thrown back.
So the question remains. Would the ball have retained enough of the liquid that Rivera allegedly was putting on it to impact its movement?
There have been a lot of players commenting on this incident the past 24 hours. Don Mattingly who is now Joe Torre's bench coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers had an interesting take. "Honestly, guys are using tar, resin, anything they can to get a better feel for the ball, and just moisture on your hands is nothing really."
A few thoughts on this subject.
- Aybar got the bunt down successfully and the Angels ended up with runners at 1st and third so they can really complain about it.
- That's why Mariano threw the ball away. It was wet and it slipped!
- Posada is the one who should be pissed here at Rivera for making him catch a phlegm-ball and having to grab it with his hand and then throw it back? And what about Johnny Damon in left field? He is the one who retrieved the wet goober thing after Mariano threw it down the third base line? And if you think about it, Posada gets really screwed here holding the hot potato as it were because Damon threw it back in to him for a second time thinking that there may be a play at the plate!
But in the end the Commissioners Office was circumspect of the allegations from the beginning because:
1. The spit is coming from far away. There is no attempt by Rivera to hide what he is doing. He is facing toward the outfield, but in the playoffs that leaves him in the direct line of sight of at least three umpires. He is not rubbing the ball up or massaging it in his glove as is often the case when a ball is being doctored.
2. Between the regular season and postseason, Rivera has appeared in 999 games and nothing has ever emerged before linking Rivera to doctoring the ball. He has appeared in 82 postseason games when cameras, eyeballs and opponents are fixed on him constantly, and no evidence of this has previously emerged.
3. The league office is aware that Rivera is a player who spits constantly while in action.
I'm sure he grabs his Johnson once in a while too, are they going to acknowledge that?
All in all, the way I see it the Commissioners Office is missing one thing here. HE SPIT ON THE BALL! This video is going to go down in history like the Zupruder film. Wouldn't it be great if Posada got revenge by peeing in Rivera's hot chocolate in the bull pen? - Josh Bolan
Josh Bolan is a retired AP baseball reporter and now works as a freelance writer in Fresno California. Josh has been contributing to baseball publications as a writer since 1996.----------
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