After a rather embarrassing SI.com report, Cardinals pitcher and franchise icon Adam Wainwright confirmed that he purchased $300 worth of glue, cement, goo, gloop — or whatever the hell it is — from Brian “Bubba” Harkins, the former LA Angels’ clubhouse attendant who was fired by MLB for selling the contraband to MLB pitchers.
Wainwright insists he used the gunk for six or seven times and didn’t like it.
He tossed it away.
But Wainwright did not toss away his reputation by dabbling with this concoction — according to his version — for only a brief time in 2019.
My reaction: I don’t care much about any of this because MLB didn’t care.
The league had no firm rules on substances used by pitchers. The regulations were too vague, and pitchers were rarely inspected on the suspicion of using a foreign substance. The institution of baseball let it go — from the commissioner’s office, to the umpires, to the managers, to the coaches, and to the players.
It was a non-policy, and MLB did not choose to enforce this non-policy. And that’s why pitchers believed they had the freedom, if not tacit approval, to dab the sticky for a better grip, better spin rate, and enhanced statistics.
As CBS Sports wrote: “The league has long allowed pitchers to use things to help with the grip of the baseball and has pretty much let them do whatever they want, unless it’s over-the-top blatant, such as when Michael Pineda had a huge lump of pine tar on the side of his neck.”
Now that MLB finally does care and is cracking down on the gluey, tacky stuff … what, are we supposed to go back in history and retroactively persecute pitchers who used these substances while MLB looked the other way?
I’m supposed to go full-tank outrage on Wainwright (and others) because the people in charge were more interested in other projects? Hey, when you run the sport and are so terribly busy making it more boring, gimmicky and unwatchable — well, mister, there’s no time to pay attention to pitchers and their little science experiments.
If MLB didn’t want pitchers playing with super-sticky paste like bad schoolboys over the last several years, then MLB should have intervened and taken action to make it stop. This did not happen. The adults had no interest in supervising the kids.
Shamed by negative publicity stemming from excellent reporting on this issue, MLB finally has responded. MLB finally gave a damn. MLB is finally getting around to policing the sport. (We think.) How the new regulations will be enforced remains to be seen, but prepare for comedy, inconsistency and controversy.
I love the irony here.
MLB doctors its own baseballs from year to year, making changes that have helped pitchers, or hitters, fulfill the desired goals of the ball manipulation for a given season.
Let me make sure I understand this: we’re supposed to assail and condemn pitchers for messing with the baseball when these same pitchers work for a league that historically messes with the ball in a blatant attempt to alter competitive results?
Get outta here with that.
I respect Wainwright for speaking up and confirming the SI.com story instead of dancing around it and making a fool of himself. (Looking at you, Gerrit Cole.)
But if we really want to be truthful about this — and many of you don’t — Waino addressed this unpleasant disclosure only because he had no real choice. Ducking it would have made him look terrible, and this media-savvy athlete knows this.
Again, I don’t care that Wainwright made his secret purchase. But he didn’t clear his conscience before the story came out and left him him exposed. He reacted by handling the aftermath. And handled it with grace. Now, if you want to bestow sainthood on him for his skill at damage control, have at it.
I’ve been around long enough to know how this works: if a rival team’s guy does it, he’s a cheater and a BAD PERSON! If your team’s guy does it, he’s a GOOD GUY who made an honest mistake and the media should be ashamed of itself for reporting on it!
Before this story emerged, Adam Wainwright was one of the greatest pitchers in Cardinals history. And he was a good and charitable man. A wonderful family man. Widely loved and respected.
After this story came out, Adam Wainwright is one of the greatest pitchers in Cardinals history. And he is a good man, a charitable man. A wonderful family man. Widely loved and respected.
Nothing has changed. This was a sticky situation, yes. But Wainwright wiped his hands and went on with the rest of his career. He moved on with his life. Still pitching well. Still living well. Still helping others. Still being a devoted husband and father. Still Adam Wainwright. And that’s plenty of goodness. More than enough goodness to compensate for mistakes made along the way.
Thanks for reading …
–Bernie
Check out Bernie’s sports-talk show on 590-AM The Fan, KFNS. It airs Monday through Thursday from 3-6 p.m. and Friday from 4-6 p.m. You can listen live online and download the Bernie Show podcast at 590thefan.com … the 590 app works great and is available in your preferred app store.
The weekly “Seeing Red” podcast with Bernie and Will Leitch is also available at 590thefan.com.
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For the last 36 years Bernie Miklasz has entertained, enlightened, and connected with generations of St. Louis sports fans.
While best known for his voice as the lead sports columnist at the Post-Dispatch for 26 years, Bernie has also written for The Athletic, Dallas Morning News and Baltimore News American. A 2023 inductee into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, Bernie has hosted radio shows in St. Louis, Dallas, Baltimore and Washington D.C.
Bernie, his wife Kirsten and their cats reside in the Skinker-DeBaliviere neighborhood of St. Louis.
