Testing is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.

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Here is the classic lorem ipsum passage followed by Boparai’s odd, yet mesmerizing version:

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Major League Baseball, as we know it, has always been governed by a strict code and set of rules. Baseball is a game soaked in tradition and history, and players also have an almost equally spirited tradition of breaking these rules. 

The extent of the cheating and rule breaking in the Steroid Era is now fully out in the open, and that legacy still permeates the minds of ballclubs and fans throughout the country. Even today we still occasionally see a big star get caught using performance enhancing drugs (PEDs), and many of us grew up with favorite players who would eventually be unmasked as cheaters and frauds. 

Until recently, most investigations into cheating in the League extended to position players and pitchers who were trying to build extra muscle to increase their power numbers or fastball velocity. The game is facing a new era of cheating now though, and although the culprit is familiar and nothing new, the MLB still seems unsure how to manage the problem. 

Early in the 2014 season in a game against the Boston Red Sox, Yankee’s pitcher Michael Pineda was famously ejected for what appeared to be a ‘foreign’, sticky substance found on his neck by the umpire crew. Pineda would eventually be suspended for 10 games for the incident. 

Official Rule 8.02 states: “The pitcher shall not apply a foreign substance of any kind to the ball.” Pineda later admitted that he applied pine tar to himself before the second inning, saying that he was having trouble gripping the ball on a cold evening and did not want to hit any batters.

Although Red Sox fans may have taken delight in a starting pitcher for their biggest rival being ejected mid-game, and Yankee fans might be wondering why Pineda would have such a problem with beaning “BeanTowners”, the fact of the matter is that this issue is incredibly widespread in baseball, and we’re only now discovering how extensive it is. 

Any deep look into pitching metrics over the past 10 years could have given it away though. In fact, it’s so blatantly obvious that one has to wonder whether the MLB has been aware of the problem and just doesn’t care. 

The MLB has recently, however, distributed a memo outlining its intention to crack down on the use of foreign substances on baseballs, a multi-pronged attack that will include repossessing game-used baseballs to test for foreign substances, charting sudden rises in spin rates among pitchers and assigning monitors to patrol dugouts, clubhouses and other areas

A myriad of different voices online have recently pointed out the sudden improvement in spin rate of several of the game’s biggest pitching stars, including the 2020 Cy Young winner – Trevor Bauer. 

Bauer implied in a jumble of different social media posts over the years that the improvements of pitchers Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole upon their arrival with the Houston Astros was tied to questionable practices, pointing to the increase in their spin rates as proof. In 2020, Bauer estimated at least 70% of pitchers used foreign substances to gain a better grip on the ball and improve their spin rates. 

In 2020, Bauer himself had a career year, winning the Cy Young Award in the pandemic-shortened season, while enjoying spin rate gains from 2019 of 15% on his four-seam fastball and 10% on his cut fastball, according to MLB data. 

In 2018, Bauer Tweeted, “My fastball is about 2250 rpm on average. I know for a fact I can add 400 rpm to it by using pine tar. Look how much better I would be if I didn’t have morals…”

Last season it went up to 2,824 rpm. This is also notable because Bauer once insinuated the Astros and former UCLA teammate Gerrit Cole were using foreign substances to improve spin rates, and Bauer has stated several times how widespread the use of pine tar and other foreign substances is to assist pitchers on getting a better grip on the ball. 

The Los Angeles Angels recently fired a clubhouse and equipment manager after the organization was notified by Major League Baseball that he was providing pitchers with an illegal blend of pine tar, a violation of a rule that had never been strictly enforced.

During an interview with MLB attorneys, he identified Cole, Justin Verlander, Edwin Jackson, Max Scherzer, Felix Hernandez, Corey Kluber, Joba Chamberlain, Adam Wainwright and Tyler Chatwood among the pitchers who have asked for his specific blend of pine tar.

He also named several current and former Angels – Percival, Brendan Donnelly, Kevin Jepsen, Cam Bedrosian, Keynan Middleton, Yusmeiro Petit, Luke Bard, Matt Andriese, Dylan Peters, Jose Suarez, Kaleb Cowart and Dylan Bundy – who used his blend.

During the investigation, text messages were leaked between none other than Gerrit Cole and this equipment manager that strongly implicated Cole.

“Hey Bubba, it’s Gerrit Cole. I was wondering if you could help me out with this sticky situation ;). We don’t see you until May, but we have some road games in April that are in cold weather places. The stuff I had last year seizes up when it gets cold …” The texts read. 

Now, Gerrit Cole is an easy target, but It’s becoming increasingly clear that there are pitchers on every team – and I mean every single team – that use a foreign substance and pine tar to improve their grip and their spin rate. Managers don’t call opposing pitchers on it because their guys are doing it too, and nobody want to open Pandora’s Box. 

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