Rockies' humidor system has a few skeptics
- September 21, 2010
In the Giants' final trip of the regular season, they play in the Friendly Confines and Not So Friendly Confines.
Wrigley Field, home of the Lovable Losers. And Coors Field, home of the Humidor Hullabaloo.
To remain on target for the postseason, the Giants can't give in to a Cubs team that is 17-7 under interim manager Mike Quade or a Rockies team that has won 20 of 27 to erase most of an 11-game deficit.
In the Rockies' series, which could go far in determining the outcome of the NL West, the humidor could be a subplot. The humidor is used to make balls less hitter-friendly in the thin air of the Mile High City, but what if some non-humidor balls were in the mix with the Rockies at bat?
In July, the voice of the Giants, Jon Miller, said in a KNBR interview that he had heard from people in the game that something fishy could be happening with the baseballs, which are to be humidified and used by both teams.
"I wasn't making accusations. I was saying there were people on the Giants and apparently other teams talking about something could be going on," Miller said Monday. "They thought the ball was carrying better and balls were harder and the ball sounded differently off the bats and that non-humidor balls could be slipped in the ball bag. How it could happen, I don't know."
Miller isn't alone in his comments.
Two Dodgers coaches questioned a reporter in San Francisco last week about the validity of the humidor process, suggesting the Rockies could use non-humidor balls if the process isn't monitored properly. A National League general manager (not Brian Sabean) said he suspects that the issue will be discussed in the offseason, perhaps at the GM meetings in November.
In 75 games at Coors Field, the Rockies have hit .304 with 102 homers and 790 hits. Opponents have hit .258 with 67 homers and 698 hits. The Rockies have outscored visitors 452-345.
The team scoffs when anyone challenges how it transports balls from the humidor to the pitcher's hand.
Kevin Kahn, the Rockies' vice president of ballpark operations, said dozens of game balls are removed from the humidor (in a room near the Rockies' clubhouse) on game day, rubbed up by the umpires' attendant and deposited into a ball bag that is returned to the humidor. After the national anthem, the attendant transfers the ball bag from the humidor to the end of the Rockies' dugout.
During games, when the plate umpire is low on baseballs, a ball boy situated near the bag pulls out some and runs them to the ump.
MLB doesn't monitor the process in person, and Kahn said the umpires' attendant is a Rockies employee. So what's to prevent the Rockies from slipping in a non-humidor ball when the team needs a big rally?
"The integrity of the manager (Jim Tracy) and coaching staff would prevent that," said Kahn, a former A's employee and graduate of Oakland's Bishop O'Dowd High School and Cal State Hayward.
Baseball history tells us players and teams tend to do what's necessary to gain an edge. Stealing signs. Doctoring balls. Taking steroids. In a May game in Philadelphia, the Rockies caught Phillies bullpen coach Mick Billmeyer using binoculars to steal signs, a violation. MLB ordered Billmeyer to ditch the binoculars during games.
Joe Garagiola Jr., MLB's senior vice president of baseball operations, didn't make himself available for an interview. Pat Courtney, baseball's senior vice president of public relations, said umpires help oversee the use of the balls.
"Umpires have the balls in their possession, and they're the ones putting them in play," Courtney said. "The biggest thing is, the umpire sees the difference between humidor and non-humidor balls, and no umpire has said anything about having a concern about it."
Giants reliever Jeremy Affeldt, who pitched for the Rockies in 2006 and 2007, said he, unlike other Giants interviewed, can tell the difference between a ball stored in a humidor and a ball that's not. The humidor "keeps the leather from getting stiff and slippery and helps you get a better grip, and you throw a better breaking ball."
Without the humidor, a ball used at Coors Field would tend to be harder, lighter and drier, a hitter's dream.
Suspicions began when the Rockies failed to notify MLB when first using their humidor in 2002, which was reported by the Denver Post, prompting Sandy Alderson of the rules committee to say, "The secretive nature was unfortunate." Alderson said MLB didn't have a problem with the humidor, merely with the Rockies for not taking necessary steps for approval.
Courtney said no team has complained, formally or informally, about how baseballs are supplied at Coors Field.
The Rockies must test 12 balls from each Rawlings shipment, measuring (circumference must be 9 to 9 1/4 inches) and weighing (5 to 5 1/4 ounces) the balls each week and sending results - along with the temperature and humidity in and out of the humidor - to the league office.
MLB officials sometimes inspect the process. Frank Robinson made a recent visit.
The Giants, 2-4 at Coors Field this year, need to worry more about the Rockies' talent than how the baseballs are treated. Humidor or no humidor, Troy Tulowitzki hit 14 homers in 15 games through Saturday: nine homers in a 10-game homestand and five homers in five games at San Diego and Los Angeles.
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