Johnny Bench comments on the pine tar issue

'"Everyone says, 'What was it?' There's no mystery at all. There isn't an umpire who didn't immediately know that was pine tar on Kenny's hand."

• He played for the Cincinnati Reds for 17 seasons, hit 389 home runs and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1989 as one of the greatest catchers ever.

Like a lot of former major leaguers, he wasn't surprised to see pine tar on a pitcher's hand.

"Guys do things like that, trying to get an edge," Bench said. "When I played, there was a rag with pine tar that hitters used in the on-deck circle. Between innings, the batboy would bring it into the dugout and the pitcher would go over and rub it. Just trying to grip the ball better. They have to do something now, especially when it's cold.

• The seams are lower than they used to be."

It's a violation of rule 8:02 (a)(4), which stipulates a pitcher "may not apply a foreign substance of any kind to the ball." Rule 8:02 (a)(2-6) calls for an immediate ejection when a pitcher is caught.

• But the rule is routinely broken, Bench said, which is probably why St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa didn't press to have Rogers ejected after the Detroit Tigers' pitcher was caught with a smudge in the first inning of Game 2. The umpires just asked him to wash it off.

"There's a real good chance some of his guys probably do it," Bench said of La Russa. "Anytime you see real good curveball pitchers like the Cardinals have, chances are they probably have a little bit" of pine tar.

Not that Bench would have complained about the ejection of Rogers, whom he says he knows and likes.

"He claimed it was dirt, which isn't a foreign substance. But come on," Bench said. "He was just so blatant about it. Why didn't he just set off a flare calling attention to it? It was that obvious. I mean, I know he is getting old, but it's like he put it on and just forgot to wipe it off. I'm going to kid Kenny about that."

Bench acknowledged that he would be more upset if Rogers' offense ranked higher on his personal list of baseball subversions.

"It's not cheating. Very few guys really cheat," Bench said. "Cheating is putting Vaseline on the ball. That makes it go absolutely crazy. That's unhittable. That's not a level playing field. Cheating is putting cork in your bat. Cheating is stealing signs from second base. That's not acceptable. And of course, using steroids is cheating."

The latter is a sore subject for Bench, as it is for many former players who dislike seeing their records challenged by players suspected of using performance-enhancing drugs.' From John Eisenberg's column in the Baltimore Sun, 10/28/06

• (Interesting about the seams on the baseball being lower. If you want to identify "eras," do we now add points to today's pitchers for using a ball that's harder to grip?)sm

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