Sosa caught with cork in his bat

I believe him.

 

Chicago Cubs' Sammy Sosa breaks his bat on a first-inning ground ball Tuesday, June 3, 2003, at Wrigley Field in Chicago. After the play, home plate umpire Tim McClelland examined the bat and ejected Sosa after finding cork in the bat. (AP Photo/Steve Matteo)

 

which part do you believe?

 

Know what the funny thing is? A corked bat actually takes distance off a ball. That's why the penalties are not larger.

Any player using a corked bat is stupid. They are more likely to break, meaning you will likely get caught, and you take distance off the ball. The only thing it does is lighten the bat without reducing the surface area of the bat head.

Damn Sammy, you are stuuupid.

 

That he picked up the wrong bat.

 

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/sports/6007828.htm
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Sosa admits using corked bat
By JOHNNY ROSENSTEIN
Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO - If Sammy Sosa didn't have enough questions to answer since his return from the disabled list a week ago, the inquiries became magnified Tuesday night at Wrigley Field.

On the season's first day of interleague play, Sosa was tossed out of a come-from-behind 3-2 victory over Tampa Bay in the first inning for using a corked bat.

With runners on second and third and one out, Sosa hit what seemed to be a routine broken-bat, run-scoring groundout. After Tampa Bay second baseman Marlon Anderson threw Sosa out at first, pieces of Sosa's shattered bat were being picked up.

When the umpires finished a huddled discussion, crew chief Tim McClelland gave Sosa the thumb for using a corked bat.

Sosa, who has been booed and questioned during his 2-for-15, one-RBI performance since his return, claimed the corked bat was used only for batting practice and home run exhibitions and had been inadvertently mixed in with his game bats.

"This is something I take blame for," Sosa said after his replacement, Troy O'Leary, scored the game-winning run on a ninth-inning wild pitch by Tampa Bay reliever Al Levine (2-2).

Sosa claimed he used the corked bat only for batting practice and that it had been mixed in with his regular bats.

"I just picked the wrong bat," he said. "I apologize to my team. ... I apologize to the commissioner of baseball."

Sosa said the league offices confiscated his bats and he wasn't worried anything else would be found.

"I believe Sammy didn't know it was in there," manager Dusty Baker said. "My reaction is to wait to see what the league office does.

"I believe Sammy didn't know it was in there."

After Sosa's dismissal, Tampa Bay took a 2-0 lead in the second inning on Carl Crawford's two-run bloop single to left field.

The Cubs managed to cut the margin in half on back-to-back one-out doubles by Hee Seop Choi and Ramon Martinez in the sixth inning. They tied it in the eighth when Lenny Harris knocked in Choi on a bases-loaded forceout.

"Sammy was pretty sad about it," Harris said of Sosa talking to the team after the game. "He feels like he let everybody down."

Harris went up to Sosa after he spoke to the team and told the slugger to "just deal with it."

As for a possible suspension, Harris said: "That's what so bad. Pretty much, we lost our best player. We need him."

After the Devil Rays failed to break the 2-2 tie when Jared Sandberg struck out with the bases loaded in the ninth inning, the Cubs pushed across the winning run in their half.

O'Leary led off with a single up the middle, moved to second on Moises Alou's single to left and advanced to third on Choi's sacrifice bunt. With Martinez at the plate, Levine uncorked a wild pitch, allowing O'Leary to score the winning run.

Both starters pitched well. Mark Prior yielded just two runs, striking out five over eight innings for the Cubs, while former Cub Jeremi Gonzalez allowed just one earned run through seven innings for the Devil Rays.

Mike Remlinger (4-0) picked up the victory in pitching the ninth.

"He came up and faced the music," Kerry Wood said. "He faced the press and dealt with it. The guy made an honest mistake and he's sorry."

 

I thought that the cork made the bat "springier" causing the ball to go farther. Just like the superball loaded bats. I have just always heard that. The lighter bat idea makes sense though-bat speed.

 

it does..you can take the caps off of aluminum bats and stuff raquet balls in them to give the same effect as corking a wooden bat.

 

Should the Beerbarians try this?

 

yes..just make sure the top is glued back on really good.