Interestingly, in cricket, spitballs are legal and an integral part of bowling [1]. There's an odd middle ground where it's sort of legal to use foreign substances like sunblock or hair gel as long as you're not overt about it. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_tampering
And recent issue being one of the best cricketers in the world being caught tampering the ball with sandpaper - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Australian_ball-tamperi...
Pitchers Adulterating Baseballs
31–35 of 35 posts
Re: Pitchers Adulterating Baseballs
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
No it's not: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cut_fastball I do think it would make sense to give pitchers some additional grip aid like pine tar when the temperature is below a certain level. It seems like in the unwritten rules of the game, this is usually allowed if kept discrete. The great body of unwritten rules is what makes baseball so enjoyable to follow over many years but also may be contributing to the decl…
Sounds like trying to order from In-n-Out. The unwritten thing is a known thing, so why not just write it down?
Re: Pitchers Adulterating Baseballs
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
+1 for sauna / sweating out any cold or flu. Even when I'm feeling like death, a 60 min sweat session at the gym that morning usually means I'm back to normal by the next day. Doesn't take all that much effort to work up a good sweat when you're sick too.
I used to swear by exercise to sweat out a cold, but then a couple of times it seemed to pull it deeper into my lungs and linger as bronchitis for a long time. "Rest and fluids" seems to do better now. Except when it doesn't. There doesn't seem to be much predictive power in personal anecdotes.
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/03/health/03real.html : "In one study by Austrian researchers, for example, a group of 50 adults were split into two groups and tracked for six months. One group was instructed to use saunas regularly; the other group abstained. At the end of the study the sauna group had contracted fewer colds. “This was found particularly during the last three months of the study period, when the incidence was roughly halved compared to controls,” the scientists wrote. Other studies have found similar results. But doctors caution that saunas can be hazardous to those with heart or circulatory problems."
https://www.healthline.com/health/can-you-sweat-out-a-cold#s... : cites the same study and says it may prevent colds, but cites one study saying that hot dry air specifically (3-minute exposures thereto) doesn't help... seems not the regular kind of sauna: "Use of this type of sauna has little in common with that of a regular sauna, where one usually stays longer than 10 minutes and sweating is desired." Hmmph. I'll say that one is only partly relevant.
And the "Other studies have found similar results" link's abstract says this: "The common cold has great socio-economic impact. To date, no prophylaxis has been scientifically shown to be effective. A number of older reports implied that visits to the sauna and other thermotherapeutic measures might provide a certain degree of protection. More recent data suggest that this supposition is probably true. Nevertheless, there are a number of important questions still to be answered in this area."
Sounds like there is mild evidence in favor.
Re: Pitchers Adulterating Baseballs
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
How pervasive does altering the ball have to become before we start to be suspicious if the ball doesn't look altered?
Cricket is a bit different to baseball because polishing the ball is an accepted part of the game. By polishing one side of the ball and allowing the other-side to naturally grow dull you alter the flight characteristics of the ball - it's how you can achieve movement through the air or 'swing'. The ball is rarely replaced - it is very much intended for the condition of the ball to deteriorate over the course of an i…
Isn't saliva, with or without Murray Mints, foreign enough?
Re: Pitchers Adulterating Baseballs
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
I used to swear by exercise to sweat out a cold, but then a couple of times it seemed to pull it deeper into my lungs and linger as bronchitis for a long time. "Rest and fluids" seems to do better now. Except when it doesn't. There doesn't seem to be much predictive power in personal anecdotes.
Well, then, let's get started. https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/03/health/03real.html : "In one study by Austrian researchers, for example, a group of 50 adults were split into two groups and tracked for six months. One group was instructed to use saunas regularly; the other group abstained. At the end of the study the sauna group had contracted fewer colds. “This was found particularly during the last three months of…
"The average severity of the common colds per cent was 1.8f0.8 in group 1 and 2.0k0.7 in group 2. The mean duration of common colds per event was 6.7 k3.9 days in group 1 and 7.5k5.6 days in group 2. Neither yields a significant difference between the two groups."
So, that one study found a minor preventative effect, but no curative effect.
Interesting that they also state
"The average frequency of sauna bathing was 26.8 55.5 (mean k SO) per six months. The frequency of common colds during this time was 33 in group 1 and 46 in group 2. This difference between the two groups is statisti- cally significant (P They expect 50 colds per group of 25 people in six months? On average each person getting a cold for a week every three months?
Looks like that's not far off, depending on the age distribution. Kids 4-8 per year, over 60 maybe 1/year. Wow.