In the light of Sammy Sosa’s corked bat incident on Tuesday, “no cork or other foreign material was found in any of the 76 bats confiscated from Sammy Sosa’s locker and X-rayed by baseball officials” on Wednesday. As much as I’d like to give Sammy the benefit of the doubt, I’m still a little wary of the whole incident, although the results of this examination go a long way in my book.
I was a little skeptical about how much advantage can be gained with the use of corked bats, but it appears that they can help players, if only minimally. A Wired story quoting several baseball and physics experts debates the effectiveness of their use. The slight gain in bat speed is almost offset by the lighter mass of the bat, possibly reducing “by about 3 feet what would have been a 375-foot drive from a conventional wooden bat,” not really helping power hitters but allowing contact hitters to get a quicker swing and consequently a better look at a pitch. In the end, though, the article points out that “baseball players are famously superstitious, and if a player succeeds with a corked bat once, he is apt to use it again. Also, the reputation of corked bats has a strong hold on players looking for an advantage.” That’s the main reason why it’s illegal, even if its benefits are only minimal.
Taking advantage of the whole situation, “The Fort Myers Miracle, Minnesota’s Class A affiliate in the Florida State League, plans to hand out free pieces of cork to the first 505 fans through the gates on Thursday night.”
