Baseball Has a Cheating Problem
By Ken Reed
Is cheating part of baseball’s foundation?
It certainly seems that way. Baseball seems to give us one scandal after another. Cheating seems to be an ongoing part of the game. Spitballs, corked bats, steroids, illegally stealing signs, etc.
Cheating, in various forms, has been part of baseball since the early days. But the powers that be have always tended to look the other way, with a wink and a nod.
During the steroid era, when McGwire, Sosa and Bonds were hitting moon shots, attendance and TV ratings were up, and commercials proclaimed “Chicks dig the long ball,” baseball authorities didn’t really care about cheating.
But today’s situation is different. Stikeouts are at record levels and action is way down. A typical team batting average in the National and American Leagues is in the .230s. No-hitters are becoming commonplace.
One of the primary causes of the pitching dominance appears to be pitchers who are illegally doctoring baseballs with foreign substances to increase a ball’s spin rate. These foreign substances can make balls move a couple inches in ways that increase the already difficult task of trying to hit Major League pitching.
“The data is clear that foreign substances are having an impact on the game,” Theo Epstein, a consultant for Major League Baseball (MLB), who has been charged with addressing baseball’s problems, wrote in a text.
“As the prevalence and sophistication of the substances have grown, we are seeing more strikeouts, less contact, less balls in play, and an imbalance between the pitcher and hitter.”
Major League Baseball has collected thousands of game baseballs this season and a forensic investigation found that a majority of those balls had some kind of illegal foreign substance on the ball.
“This is going to be the next steroids of baseball ordeal, because it is cheating, and it is performance enhancing,” says Minnesota Twins third baseman Josh Donaldson.
But unlike the steroid era, baseball is ready to get tough with cheaters this time. Baseball’s umpires have been given more clout to crackdown on pitchers who are doctoring balls. A new array of penalties, including ejections, fines and suspensions — for pitchers and potentially other club employees— have been announced.
The New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge believes 95% of the pitchers he faces are cheating in some way. Even if the actual number is only half of that, baseball has a real problem.
And it’s not just doctored baseballs, it’s a culture in which cheating is baked into the product.
— Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans

Sports Forum Podcast
Episode #21 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Chatting About a Broken Game With Baseball Writer Pedro Moura – Moura is a national baseball writer for Fox Sports. He previously covered the Los Angeles Dodgers for The Athletic. His new book is titled “How to Beat a Broken Game: The Rise of the Dodgers in a League on the Brink.” We discuss how and why the game of baseball is broken, what factors caused it, and offer a few thoughts on how to “fix” a great game.
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Episode #20 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Coaching Youth and High School Sports Based On What’s Best for the Athlete’s Holistic Development – We chat with long-time youth, high school and college basketball coach Jim Huber.
Episode #19 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Capturing the Spirit of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League with Anika Orrock – We discuss the hoops AAGPFL women had to jump through to play the game they loved as well as the long-term impact and legacy they have in advancing sports opportunities for girls and women.
Episode #18 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Talking about the 50th Anniversary of Title IX and the Lia Thomas Controversy with Nancy Hogshead-Makar – Hogshead-Makar is a triple gold medalist in swimming, a civil rights attorney and CEO of Champion Women.
Episode #17 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Talking Sports With Legendary New York Times Sports Columnist Robert Lipsyte – We chat about Lipsyte’s amazing career and some of the athletes he covered.
Episode #16 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Andrew Maraniss: Outstanding Author of Books That Focus On the Intersection of Sports, History and Social Justice.
Media
"How We Can Save Sports" author Ken Reed appears on Fox & Friends to explain how there's "too much adult in youth sports."
Ken Reed appears on Mornings with Gail from KFKA Radio in Colorado to discuss bad parenting in youth athletics.
“Should College Athletes Be Paid?” Ken Reed on The Morning Show from Wisconsin Public Radio
Ken Reed appears on KGNU Community Radio in Colorado (at 02:30) to discuss equality in sports and Title IX.
Ken Reed appears on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour (at 38:35) to discuss his book The Sports Reformers: Working to Make the World of Sports a Better Place, and to talk about some current sports issues.
Sports & Torts – Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans – at the American Museum of Tort Law
League of Fans is a sports reform project founded by Ralph Nader to fight for the higher principles of justice, fair play, equal opportunity and civil rights in sports; and to encourage safety and civic responsibility in sports industry and culture.
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