Pete Rose is one of a growing chorus who believes that Major League Baseball is doing something with the baseballs to make home runs more frequent.
Rose cited a few examples to back his belief that the baseballs are “juiced” in some way, and has a host of other complaints about the modern state of the sport.
“I’m going to argue with baseball until the day I die,” Rose said, via Bob Nightengale of USA Today. “That baseball is juiced. I don’t care what anybody says. They’ll say it’s not, which they have to. I saw a ball bounce behind the dugout the other day in Anaheim and it bounced into the second deck. Now, there’s something going on there.
“I saw Bryce Harper break his bat in half, and hit a 420-foot home run in New York. That just doesn’t happen. I know the ballparks are small. It just seems to me that everybody who plays baseball today is a potential home-run hitter.”
Rose also hates the focus on home runs and the lack of interest in simply putting the ball in play, and also bemoaned how small ballparks are.
“The number of ballparks is a joke to pitch in,” Rose said. “It’s not really fair to be honest with you. You think of Camden Yards [Baltimore] … Cincinnati. Houston is a joke. They’re world champions, but it’s a joke to pitch there. … Colorado, Arizona.”
Rose also suggested splitting the season in half to give more teams a chance to contend, given the lack of parity in the sport today.
“You know what I think baseball ought to look into that might help, splitting the season in half, like they do in the minor leagues. Think of how many teams have no chance of winning at the All-Star break. Now, if it’s a clean slate, and you add a couple of players,” Rose said. “Besides not only are teams 30, 40 games out of first place, what’s your attendance going to be the second half?”
That Harper home run Rose is referencing was suspicious to some other people, too. His opinions on the baseball being juiced are also shared by some within the game, and there’s even some evidence behind his thinking, despite the league’s denials.
