So with all this talk about the Patriots allegedly cheating (and I use the word allegedly very loosely!) by videotaping the signal calls of other teams, not to mention all of the chatter about the widespread steroids use in baseball, football, and elsewhere, I couldn't help but think back to a rather humorous cheating incident in Philly history.
According BaseballLibrary.com, less than 2 weeks after Atlanta's Phil Niekro was busted for filing a baseball down to get more movement on his pitches, the Phils' Kevin Gross was nabbed for having sandpaper in his glove and scuffing the ball in a similar manner.
The sad part is that Gross was 9-16 for the 80-82 Phils that year, according to BaseballReference.com. Just makes you wonder what his numbers would have been like without cheating. And by the way, he was also in the top 10 for pitchers for the following categories:
Most hit batsmen (#1)
Most losses (#2)
Most walks (#6)
Most home runs allowed (#10)
So let that be a lesson to all you youngins out there... sandpaper's for master craftsmen, not struggling pitchers.
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