MLB’s crackdown on sticky stuff had players undressing, umpires rubbing pitcher’s hair

Baseball fans have seen something new this week as umpires were checking the glove and cap of pitchers, usually as they were headed to the dugout.

The umpires were looking for foreign substances as part of Major League Baseball’s crackdown of sticky stuff that can help increase a spin rate on pitches, which makes life difficult for batters.

Most pitchers have put up with the intrusion without much of a hubbub. On Tuesday night, Washington Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer didn’t say anything when stopped the first time by the umpires, but he clearly was unhappy:

Later, Phillies manager Joe Girardi asked the umpires to check Scherzer, the former Mizzou star. This time it was during an inning.

In this instance, Scherzer unbuckled his belt and the umpires rubbed Scherzer’s hair.

“I’d have to be an absolute fool to actually use something tonight when everybody’s antenna is so far high to look for anything,” Scherzer told reporters after the game.

When he left the game, Scherzer stared down Girardi and a Nationals coach cursed at the Phillies manager. Girardi left the dugout and challenged the coach to a fight.

Jomboy (as usual) had a great breakdown of the yelling, undressing and hair touching, but there’s quite a bit of cursing. This is the link to his recap.

“The whole night I was sick of kind of licking my fingers and tasting rosin, and I couldn’t even get sweat from the back of my head because it wasn’t really a warm night,” Scherzer said. “So for me, the only part that was sweaty on me was actually my hair, so I had to take off my hat to be able to try to get some type of moisture on my hand to mix with the rosin.”

Things were also strange in Texas as A’s reliever Sergio Romo took off his belt and lowered his pants when stopped by the umpires:

One has to believe the umpires don’t like being asked to check the pitchers’ gloves, caps or hair. These checks seem likely to change at some point.