How many wins were a result of a foreign substance on the ball of HOF'r Gaylord Perry? He pitched for 22 years in the major leagues, and freely acknowledged afterward throwing illegal spitballs and using a drugstore of substances on the ball to gain an edge. He's reported to have said, "I reckon I tried everything on the old apple but salt and pepper and chocolate sauce topping." Elected to the baseball Hall of Fame in 1991.
Perry started his career in 1962, now we're talking tainted records for those 22 years. Not only his pitching stats, but every batter he faced, every game he pitched in should be in question.IMHO
How many corked bats, how many spitballs, greenies after a night on the town helped players produce for their teams? The phrase "performance enhancing" comes to mind
It kind of skews the whole record book and compels me to go to the library move the copies of the MLB record book to the fiction area and change it's Dewey Decimal number.
In an obtuse way fashion designer Coco Chanel said it best
"Fashion fades...only style remains the same"
or in baseball terms..... rz1 can be quoted saying
"Yesterdays spit is todays cream"
