Rules Are About Power
So last week, on literally the same day I sent out a newsletter about how the sticky stuff debate was unfolding in a more encouraging way than the steroid debate had years ago, the MLB released new enforcement guidelines and all hell broke less. The guidelines did not change the rules, but amounted to a dramatic “crack down” involving mandatory checks from umpires and harsh penalties for offenders.
At the same time, Tampa Bay’s Tyler Glasnow blamed the new rules for tearing his UCL, saying that going without his usual mixture of sunscreen and rosin in a start “100% contributed” to him getting hurt. A bunch of pitchers, and even some hitters like Pete Alonso, echoed his concerns. Glasnow’s teammate Rich Hill voiced disappointment with the union for letting the MLB push through a rule change midseason. Meanwhile, the spin rate detectives were still trying to detect whether the impending rule changes were causing elite starters to falter. All in all, nobody seems happy with the way this has unfolded.
This conflict is ultimately about rules—specifically whether rules are about punishing people or solving problems. What pushed this crisis over the top was the Commissioner’s announcement of a change in enforcement in the middle of the season, with little apparent input from the players. As Rob Manfred said in the league’s press release:
“It has become clear that the use of foreign substance has generally morphed from trying to get a better grip on the ball into something else – an unfair competitive advantage that is creating a lack of action and an uneven playing field. This is not about any individual player or Club, or placing blame, it is about a collective shift that has changed the game and needs to be addressed.”
On some level, this statement is encouraging. The reason I was initially optimistic about how this issue might unfold is that there DOES seem to be a clear structural issue that needs to be solved. Whereas steroid panic seemed to be largely about punishing players for breaking records, the issues Manfred cites—“a lack of action and an uneven playing field”—are serious issues threatening the game, and they need to be addressed. He goes out of his way to say he’s not trying stigmatize any individual player or team for their behavior.
But if you’re a pitcher, like Glasnow, and your routine is being disrupted to the point that you’re season is now in jeopardy, it would be hard not to feel like you’re being punished. As some pitchers have explained (one way this controversy is VERY different from the steroid issue is how much more forthcoming players have been about how these rules affect their preparation), many pitchers use some kind of sticky stuff not for any competitive advantage, but just to maintain some consistent grip on balls that are always changing.
As such, these rule changes feel fundamentally arbitrary. In a video Trevor Bauer shared, he showed that completely legal substances—a mixture of sweat and rosin—can have effects that resemble something extreme like Spider Tack.
Many fans responded by asking why, if you can get such a grip legally, he would worry about the rule changes. But that kind of narc thinking misses the point, which is about the absurd distinctions these rules are trying to make. Indeed, it’s not at all clear that the umpires who are tasked with enforcing these rules will be able to tell legal from illegal substances, which is likely to lead to abuse or unfair enforcement.
Of course, all rules are a little bit arbitrary by nature, since hard, objective lines cannot capture the nuance of every individual situation. And the alternative to objective rules is something like the unwritten rules that lead to even more arbitrary enforcement and, in this case, seem to have let the tolerance for sticky stuff get out of hand. So it’s not that rules are inherently to be avoided.
But rules imposed like this are inevitably going to seem like arbitrary exercises of power. What’s so frustrating is that players have acknowledged the structural problem that MLB’s statement pointed out—indeed, Bauer himself was one of the first people to point out the problems with sticky stuff back in 2018. So had the MLB collaborated with the union on a phased-in rule change, that accommodated the concerns of pitchers who’ve come to rely on sticky stuff, there likely could have been real progress. But the ownership class, which Manfred represents, is so committed to thinking of rules primarily as a way of disciplining labor that it cannot help but conceive of this as a “crack down,” which amounts to little more than harsher penalties, increased surveillance, and less due process for the accused.
If the league were serious about fixing the structural problem, it would realize that buy in from players is necessary for the rule’s legitimacy and success. In fact, it’s not entirely clear why these rules should come from owners at all. The players recognize that there is a problem, and many seem to have serious thoughts about ways to fix it—there’s no need at all to impose this rule in such a top-down way. Let labor govern itself…