Mizuno apologizes for ball defect in pro baseball

They aren't the first ones to apologize for defective balls, amirite?

Are all of the home runs to date going to be disqualified due to this?

In my opinion they should be along with all games being won by home runs disqualified also with a loss being given to both teams.

In my opinion they should be along with all games being won by home runs disqualified also with a loss being given to both teams.

Why???? That's basically every game. What would be the point of that?

In one game, both teams are using the same ball. It's not fair to pitchers to use an out of spec ball, but it's equally unfair to both team's pitchers.

I'm all for NPB favoring domestic companies, but Mizuno really should have lost the contract last year.

If everyone was using the same ball, it really isn't a matter of cheating. It does skew the records books though.

So last year, there was a conspiracy to make balls more bouncy, which certain people quit over..

And this year, after the season starts, they discover a defect... that makes the balls more bouncy. Doesn't sound sus at all.

there was a conspiracy to make balls more bouncy, which certain people quit over.

The 'bounciness' wasn't the issue, it was the surreptitious changing of the ball that was the problem.

At least Mizuno and the league are in front of the issue this time.

So, in other words, we are expected to believe that the same company that had to publicly apologize for conspiring to deceive the public just last year, did not put into place any kind of quality check to make sure this year's balls were completely up to spec? Come on! Is Mizuno truly that inept, or do they just hope the public will believe they are?

we are expected to believe that the same company that had to publicly apologize for conspiring to deceive the public just last year, did not put into place any kind of quality check to make sure this year's balls were completely up to spec

1, Mizuno didn't conspire on anything. The assistant commissioner requested them to make the changes last year - he's the one who kept things hush hush, Mizuno just delivered the balls that were requested.

2, They DID have quality checks - that's how these were caught!

In one game, both teams are using the same ball.

Pandebelle's absolutely right. Teams shouldn't be penalized for this at all. They did nothing wrong. And quite frankly, I can't see tweaking the technical specs for a ball to give it more bonce as being that sinister either. If everyone's using the same ball, there's no issue of unfairness at work.

The only ones who might take issue are the purists and those obsessed with stats. But purists and those obsesses with stats don't fill the stadium seats and support all of the merchandising. It's a simple numbers game: Increase the excitement of the games => increase fan attendance => increase revenue => remain a finacially viable club. The fans get baseball games that are fun to watch, the owners get to stay in business for another season; Everybody wins.

The biggest issue is the subterfuge. Why lie? It seems rather obvious that the truth would be found out rather quickly -- just as it was -- when batters inexplicably became much better between seasons.

The biggest issue is the subterfuge. Why lie?

I had a conversation with a current player about this not long ago (best not to name the player nor the team as I don't want to get him in any trouble).

His hypothesis was that the ball was lowered below the agreed specs in an attempt to suppress player salaries, which owners thought were getting out of hand. The "adjusted" ball was an attempt to compensate for that since the pitchers were now getting out of whack.

The problem from a player perspective is that their salary incentives are based on an expectation of a certain level of performance, and any monkeying with the ball skews that for them. From a fan's perspective I have no fairness issues with a livelier ball as the 2011-2012 was very, very dead and the 2013 ball was still deader than the pre-standard ball (and, as I mentioned, it's the same for both teams). But from a player perspective, yeah, I would be very mad abut the subterfuge.

Pandabelle,

Thanks for the insight. Yeah, I suppose players would take issue with it if it adversely affects their earning potential. Which would explain why the league tried to keep things under wraps.