Padres Say They Don’t Scuff, That Doesn’t Mean They Won’t

One thing seems certain. No Padre pitcher steadily or successfully throws a scuffed baseball.

Manager Larry Bowa’s pitchers have the worst earned-run average in the National League (4.67), and if they are scuffing the balls, they are scuffing the wrong ones.

Joe Niekro of the Minnesota Twins received a 10-day suspension from American League President Bobby Brown Wednesday for apparently marking up balls with an emery board in Monday’s game against the Angels. But even that penalty wasn’t enough to convince some Padre players and coaches that they should never alter the surface of the ball.

The Padres were asked: “Would you scuff? And should you scuff?”

Some replies:

Bowa--”If you can prolong your career without getting caught, what the hell, do it. I tell you, there’s more people cheating than not cheating. The only reason some guys don’t want to do it is, you can scuff it all you want, you still have to throw it for a strike. And it’s like a knuckleball--it’s a hard pitch to throw for a strike.”

Greg Booker--”If somebody told me, I could add five years to my career if I scuffed, I would do it in a minute. But right now, I prefer to try to get them out with my own stuff.”

Add Booker--”Sometimes when it comes down to putting food on the table, you’ve got to cheat or whatever. If people know about it, and are not enforcing it, how can it be cheating? If a cop clocks me at driving 70 m.p.h., and doesn’t give me a ticket, then I ain’t speeding.”

Mark Davis--”I tried it in the minor leagues when my arm was hurt. But I couldn’t get it to do anything, because I couldn’t follow through with my motion. As soon as my arm got better, I forgot about it. I didn’t need it.”

Add Davis--”It’s like a guy with a corked bat. So he uses it for a month and gets caught. At least he’s had it for a month.”

Pitching coach Galen Cisco--”I wouldn’t tell a pitcher to throw it in a game, but if he asked me, I would tell him how to scuff it. I’m a coach. That’s my job.”

Add Cisco--”Scuffing the ball has been worth the risk, if for nothing else, for the reputation. It plays mind games with people. If you see me on a dark street with my hand in my pocket, you don’t know if I’m holding a wallet or a gun. It’s the same thing.”