Baseball Cheating Question

[bleeb]

Minnesota Twins pitcher Joe Niekro was caught with an emery board in his pocket. What I don't understand is what he would use the emery board for to "cheat" and earn him "cheater" status and a 10-game suspension?

 

[waggy]

he can scuff the ball. wich changes how it curves in the air.

 

[chuckywang]

He used it to juice up the baseball.

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

A scuffing a ball can change the spin of the ball. Makes it harder to hit.

 

[Squisher]

Notice how they take a ball out of play every time it touches the ground. Scuffed balls give the pitchers an advantage.

 

[mpitts]

Did we time warp back to 1987?