Rawlings is working on a ball with more tackiness, which might put the company that supplies rubbing mud out of business. The progress might be worth it however:
Major League Baseball would prefer that pitchers not blatantly cheat, but they also don’t want pitchers throwing slippery balls. For years, the New Jersey mud has been used by umpires to rub down baseballs before every game, but this still hasn’t stopped pitchers from using a foreign substance at times. Rather than enforce the rules, MLB is considering a different idea: using baseballs that allow for a better grip. This is where the bright white baseballs come in.
The bright white baseballs used last fall were an experiment. The official ball manufacturer of Major League Baseball, Rawlings, was asked by the league to produce a baseball with a natural tackiness on the leather. If they find the right substance to give the ball more tack, they could enforce the rule against using a foreign substance. New “better grip” Rawlings balls were used in workouts and during two days of games last fall.
So the rule is not enforced because baseball doesn’t want a slippery ball to seriously injure or kill a batter. This would be similar to the take-out rule at second. The runners have to slide properly now, and the fielders have to touch the bag. Both seem like good trade-offs.
from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2mCZVTj
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