Crying racism...

My point was simply that corking is of dubious advantage, expecially in regard to the weight.
That does not change that he broke the rules and I couldn't care less about what his punishment will be.

Sosa got an 8 game suspension.

Wrong. If that was the case, they would make aluminum and titanium bats heavier, and professional ballplayers would still be using the 40-oz. bats of yesteryear instead of todays lean models. The lighter the bat, the greater control the batter has over it and the more quickly they can get around and the more easily they can check their swing, if need be.

Now, whether the ounce or so you can gain by corking produces gains that are significant enough to outweigh the risk of being caught is another question altogether.

Patiodog,

Lighter bats are more managable and easier to swing, that is true. They also do not transfer near as much energy into the ball.

People disagree on whether corked bats help or hurt. But if you think it's a matter of right and wrong feel free to settle this with them (the "pundits", players, coaches etc who disagree about the effect of a corked bat).

I've heard plenty say the benefit is negligible, or merely psychological. I've heard very few say that the benefit is negative. Just pointing out that every advance in bat manufacture has been toward a lighter, not a heavier, bat. Bat weight has dropped nearly 20 ounces since they started playing the game.

Same goes for golf clubs, by the way. As was pointed out in the other corking thread, kinetic energy is directly proportional to the mass of the bat, but it is directly proportional to the square of the velocity of the bat.

I didn't see the other thread. IMO the main advantage of corking is in elastic properties and even that is dubious.

Some may think so. As far as I know -- and I grew up with baseball fanatics -- is that the main purpose of putting any material in the hole you bore out of the bat is to silence any echo that might be present in the empty chamber, which would be a dead giveaway that the bat was illegal.

Yup, I've heard that one too. But then again there are the guys who put rubber in there.

It's all black magic. Ultimately whatever helps you hit the ball works. What happens when you hit it is of secondary importance. :-)

There is always the possibility (admittedly slight) that Sosa was framed.

Someone who corks their bat is asking for trouble- bats break all the time and sooner or later the truth will out. Sosa MUST have broken a few dozen bats in his career and never been caught. (What a corker!)

Just two things - yes, I can see where the claims of racism would ring bogus to some, but I don't think Sosa ever claimed any such excuse. All he ever said was "I made a mistake, and I'm sorry." He can't be held responsible for what Canseco or someone else says.

Also, I had to give him the benefit of the doubt that he really just picked up a wrong bat, because they X-rayed nearly a hundred of his other bats (including the ones he used to break records), and they didn't find any cork.

I didn't say anything about Sosa crying racism, I brought up Canseco and Pedro doing it.

And OF COURSE he knew it was corked! Think of it: any player using a corked bat knows he risks getting caught if his bat breaks. Obviously they'll check his other bats. What's the point of keeping a handful of corked bats? If it breaks and you get away with it, you make another. I think it's funny anyone would believe that story!

That's fair enough. Some choose to give him the benefit of a doubt - some don't. Grownups can agree to disagree.

Hey, it's over. Now for steroids...

Steroids? That's not even a question. Most of the pros use them, it's really not even a big deal, just one of those things athletes can't publicly discuss.
I remember seeing Sosa's rookie card. He weighed about 165 lbs. He now looks like a water balloon.
Also, a good friend of mine plays minor league ball. He told me there was only 3 or 4 players on the team not using roids.

Slappy, Why not give Sosa the benefit of the doubt? After all, he is paying with not being able to play in seven important games. c.i.

Against mediocre teams. He's back just in time for the tough games.

Remember the SNL sketch about the "All Drug Olympics"? Maybe that's the way to go -- put all the cards on the table. Like those "World's Strongest She-Man" competitions on ESPN. They've always gotta have them somewhere where nobody's going to give a damn what drugs the hulks are taking...

I give Sosa the benefit of the doubt just because I think he really is too dumb to have realized he used a corked bat...and that has nothing to do with his race.

A corked bat is a corked bat, I don't care if an armadillo was batting. It's against the rules.

Ci, maybe he didn't know, I just find it hard to believe. Why the hell would he cork a bat just for batting practice? That whole story is just suspect. I think that he corked a bat, and got caught. I could really care less, I don't think it's that big of a deal, corking a bat probably isn't going to make a huge difference anyway.

I've never seen that SNL skit..but man, those female bodybuilders/powerlifters are scary. Don't know why a woman would want to take a sh!tload of male hormones to look like that for.

Stuff's addictive, man!

Joe Morgan said that he used a corked bat during bp in his day because it was somehow easier on his hands -- dampened vibrations or something.