There was someone fairly recently - by which I mean within the past 10 or 15 years - who was caught on camera with, I think, something in his mouth. Like a piece of sandpaper or something like that. I am thinking that it was an aging veteran who was, generally speaking, good but not great. Does anyone remember who I am talking about?

I RTFA just so I could complain about how there was nothing in it that didn't already appear in Derek Zumsteg's great book The Cheater's Guide to Baseball, and then I saw that Keri interviewed and quoted Zumsteg. So, uh, good work Jonah.

It's an interesting topic, and I agree that some pitchers are getting away with occasionally doctoring the ball. But as the article says, with the cutter and the splitter and HD cameras everywhere, why bother with vaseline/files/pine tar?

Edit: a search for baseball pitcher sandpaper mouth suggets that the guy you're thinking of might be Tim Leary in 1992:

ESPN`s cameras showed Leary covering his mouth with his glove, then apparently taking something from the glove and placing it inside his mouth. When the inning finished, the cameras showed him tossing something out of his mouth just before he headed up the runway to the clubhouse.

Yes! Tim Leary. Thanks.

If you could manage it without being caught, I'm pretty sure scuffing correctly could be used to make a cutter move significantly more glove-side. Which would be very useful.

Not that I'd expect to see someone do it.

Removed for lack of intelligence.

Was it Niekro who had the emery board fly out his pocked then tried to feign ignorance? That was brilliant.

Brian Moehler was found with sandpaper attached to his glove a few years ago.

This is a good article.
"Bruce Sutter," said Mike Maddux, the Texas Rangers pitching coach and 15-year major league veteran whose own pitching career briefly coincided with the Hall of Fame reliever's. "He mastered the splitter. All of a sudden you had a pitch that had the same action you could get with the greaseball."

That explains it right there, I guess. That and the omnipresent cameras.

Although there have been several other pitchers accused of having excessive pine tar on their hats and gloves. Julian Tavarez and Brendan Donnelly were both kicked out of games for it, I think. And the Cardinals brain trust didn't limit its pine-tar accusations to Kenny Rogers in the World Series; here is Dave Duncan casting aspersions on Bronson Arroyo two years ago.

Then there's people like Steve Kline whose hat is always filthy so there's no way to tell if there's something abnormal about it. He's been retired since 2007, I need a new example.

In one oft-told account, Sutton was asked if it was true that he used foreign substances on the ball. "Not true at all," he replied. "Vaseline is manufactured right here in the United States."

I hadn't heard that quote previously. I like it.

Was it Niekro who had the emery board fly out his pocked then tried to feign ignorance? That was brilliant.

I believe this was Joe (Greatest Clutch Pitcher Ever) Niekro, not Phil; he claimed he needed to keep his nails a certain length so used the board in the dugout, and just forgot to take it out of his pocket when he went to the mound.
I still think Whitey Ford did it best: either use your wedding ring, or have your catcher sharpen a buckle on the shin guards. Nobody's going to think to check either.

If you could manage it without being caught, I'm pretty sure scuffing correctly could be used to make a cutter move significantly more glove-side. Which would be very useful.

If you're talking about a right-handed pitcher throwing, that's not a cutter, that's a moving fastball. A cutter is a baby slider.

I still think Whitey Ford did it best: either use your wedding ring, or have your catcher sharpen a buckle on the shin guards. Nobody's going to think to check either.

Ford according to his autobiography didn't actually use his wedding ring, he had a ring made with a rasp welded to it, and told everyone who asked it was his wedding ring. In addition to the shinguards bit, he also said he would throw balls in the dirt during warmups, hoping to get a scuff in the right place.

Very enjoyable article...
I've got a soft spot for scuffing the ball etc.
I remember Kevin Gross I think got tossed at some point for sandpaper on his glove (although I could be butchering together multiple memories).
I also remember much drama at Mike Scott's heydey about him doctoring the ball... I don't remember, though, if he was ever caught or if he later acknowledged (or denied) having done so...

I remember Kevin Gross I think got tossed at some point for sandpaper on his glove (although I could be butchering together multiple memories).

I remember that. The mid-80s were a renaissance for scuff-ballers. Mike Scott, Kevin Gross, Joe Niekro ... I think Gross and Niekro were both in 1987 not all that far apart.

Rick Honeycutt was 1980 with the tack in his glove, and apparently when he was finally tossed had a few scratches on his forehead from forgetting and wiping his head.

[10] Whose glove side do you think he meant?

Don't forget about Eddie Harris. He outright admitted to the Wild Thing that he uses every edge he can get to fool hitters the best way he can.

In one of the umpire autobiographies the ump tells a story about catching Whitey scuffing the balls. He tells Yogi something like Whitey neeeds to go into the clubhouse and tie his shoes or something like that and it was his way of telling Yogi to tell Whitey to take his ring off.

Then there's people like Steve Kline whose hat is always filthy so there's no way to tell if there's something abnormal about it. He's been retired since 2007, I need a new example.

Joe Blanton in the '08 playoffs is a good example.

In one of the umpire autobiographies the ump tells a story about catching Whitey scuffing the balls. He tells Yogi something like Whitey neeeds to go into the clubhouse and tie his shoes or something like that and it was his way of telling Yogi to tell Whitey to take his ring off.

Bouton tells that story in Ball Four, along with the ones about the mud balls and Elston Howard's shin guard buckles also mentioned above.

Joe Blanton in the '08 playoffs is a good example.

And Kenny Rogers, in Game 2 of the 2006 WS. Clearly visible, on both the hand and the cap.

My favorite scuff ball story ever (Richard Justice, 6/8/2003 Chronicle):

A dugout telephone rings in Anaheim, and the manager of the New York Yankees is summoned.

"Are you watching this game?" an angry George Steinbrenner asked Lou Piniella that summer night more than a decade ago.

Piniella says he has watched every minute.

"Well," Steinbrenner says, "are you aware that (Angels starter) Don Sutton is cheating?"

Huh?

"Yes, he's scuffing the ball," Steinbrenner snaps. "Our television announcers are aware of it. I'm sure the Angels are aware of it. You're probably the only guy there who doesn't know it. Now, I want you to go out there and make the umpires check Don Sutton."

Piniella, his temper suddenly getting the best of him, fires back.

"George," he yells, "do you know who taught him how to cheat?"

Steinbrenner does not know.

"The guy who taught Don Sutton everything he knows about cheating is the guy pitching for us tonight," Piniella tells his boss. "Do you want me to go out there and get Tommy John thrown out, too?"

Was it Niekro who had the emery board fly out his pocked then tried to feign ignorance? That was brilliant.

I believe this was Joe (Greatest Clutch Pitcher Ever) Niekro, not Phil; he claimed he needed to keep his nails a certain length so used the board in the dugout, and just forgot to take it out of his pocket when he went to the mound.

The video of that incident is still hilarious. When shown in super slow-mo, the board comes flying out of his pocket and lands at Kent Hrbek's feet. Hrbek immediately steps over the board to hide it while trying to suppress a smirk. The four umpires are huddled around and only Steve Palermo saw it.

I've had a theory for a long time (based on the circumsantial evidence of a) his brother's career, b) his late-career success, c) the late-career revival started under Billy Martin, and d) some vague, but not entirely subtle by comments from Bert Blyleven over the years about "learning from him") that Jim Perry doctored the ball. Has anyone ever read/heard/encountered anything about those rumors?

[10] Whose glove side do you think he meant?

The catcher's. If he meant the pitcher's glove side, mea culpa, though I haven't heard it used much that way.

But it would still be incorrect even so. Scuffing a cutter/slider wouldn't do nearly as much as scuffing a moving fastball, it's a different kind of spin. You wouldn't scuff a curve either. You pretty much only scuff fastballs. On a curve/slider/cutter you want as tight a spin as possible. Scuffing is about creating a disruption on one side of the ball to catch the wind, create drag, and jerk the ball in a different direction. Hence the rise of the splitter contributing to its lack of use - splitters do the same thing, albeit in one direction only. You're throwing a fastball with less spin. But most scuff balls were sinkers anyway. Really what scuff balls are/were used for is to create a bigger moving fastball.

I still think Whitey Ford did it best: either use your wedding ring, or have your catcher sharpen a buckle on the shin guards. Nobody's going to think to check either.

A while back I read a story about one of the Yankees clubhouse guys, Whitey Ford had been ordered by the umps to remove his "wedding" band, he gave it to the clubhouse guy, who said it looked like a wedding band, but had across hatch pattern on one side, like a file rasp... He said he didn't want the thing on him so he threw it out, in case someone came looking for it later... Well after the game whitey came looking for it, "where's my ring?" "the ring? that thing, I threw it out" pause, Whitey stairs at him, "that really was my wedding band"

the clubhouse guy recalled thinking, "oh crap, I'm a dead man now," and then Whitey smiled, "just kidding"

[22] I hear it used that way all the time. Let's you talk about the movement of pitches without having to worry about handedness of the pitcher. Agree on your second paragraph, though.

I still think Whitey Ford did it best: either use your wedding ring, or have your catcher sharpen a buckle on the shin guards. Nobody's going to think to check either.

Yeah, if you're going to doctor the ball, having your catcher in on it has to be the way to go. I'd think it would be a breeze to have a willing catcher add a couple of inches to your break.