A blast from the Astros past in the Dallas Morning News-- an article about Astros great (see his retired number) Mike Scott. The story recounts the well-known tale of how Roger Craig resurrected Scott's career by teaching him the split-finger.
The other focus of the article, not surprisingly, is on the accusations that Scott scuffed the ball. Scott's explanation:
"Whenever I got an 0-2 count, I would throw a splitter as hard as I could," he said. "I would let it fly and the thing would break half a foot and usually bounce in the dirt. Guys would say, `How did he do that? That's not normal.' It wasn't close to being a strike and I might throw those two or three like that in a game, but that's the ones batters remembered because the ball got scratched."
Whether of not that explanation passes the smell test is besides the point now. And Scott never got caught scuffing, no matter how many times he was checked, or who checked him (I remember Roger Craig checking Scott, even though Craig was taking credit for teaching Scott the pitch; gamesmanship, you see).
But Scott's explanation reminded me of one of my favorite memories from the 1986 NLCS. In Game 1, Keith Hernandez started yelling for the umpire to check the ball before he finished a futile swing against a Scott splitter.
Who among us didn't believe that Scott would have pitched a perfect game in Game 7 of the NLCS had the 'Stros only gotten there.
The other focus of the article, not surprisingly, is on the accusations that Scott scuffed the ball. Scott's explanation:
"Whenever I got an 0-2 count, I would throw a splitter as hard as I could," he said. "I would let it fly and the thing would break half a foot and usually bounce in the dirt. Guys would say, `How did he do that? That's not normal.' It wasn't close to being a strike and I might throw those two or three like that in a game, but that's the ones batters remembered because the ball got scratched."
Whether of not that explanation passes the smell test is besides the point now. And Scott never got caught scuffing, no matter how many times he was checked, or who checked him (I remember Roger Craig checking Scott, even though Craig was taking credit for teaching Scott the pitch; gamesmanship, you see).
But Scott's explanation reminded me of one of my favorite memories from the 1986 NLCS. In Game 1, Keith Hernandez started yelling for the umpire to check the ball before he finished a futile swing against a Scott splitter.
Who among us didn't believe that Scott would have pitched a perfect game in Game 7 of the NLCS had the 'Stros only gotten there.
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