Norm Cash - The Cheater that Prospered

Jonny's rant about Norm Cash, who won a batting title by corking his bat, and has retained the record to this day, even AFTER he admitted to cheating!

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Norm
• Cash
• Cheating
• in
• Baseball
• Major
• League
• Detroit
• Tigers
• 1961
• batting
• title
• Al
• Kaline

[LesKrupa]

Cash disclosed his corked bat in SI I believe back in the 60s. The opinion that matters most on who deserves the title is Kaline, who has expressed only great respect and admiration for Cash. Key difference between Cash and the steroid users is Cash owned up to it and disclosed it. That's accountability only demonstrated by Pettitte. By the way a corked bat does move through the zone quicker but also launches the ball harder because of the energy released after the barrel flexes.

[jongreek]

@LesKrupa I, too, give Cash credit for his disclosure. Kaline has always seemed to be a great team player and a man of dignity. I think you are the only one to comment that you, too, have seen the information about Cash admitting to cheating that year. The truth can be what you make it, but something is either true or not, period.

[57slingblade]

"Stormin" Norman hit 4 balls over the roof at tiger stadium. He didn't need a corked bat to hit the ball further. 1961 was a fluke, Cash stated this. Balls were rocketing out of parks that year. An investigation conducted by technologists at Foster D. Snell Inc. concluded that the ball was slightly larger and several ounces lighter in 61. Cash was a very good player (not a superstar) but very consistent over 14 seasons in Detroit. If you want a crusade, raise money for St Judes in Detroit.

[jongreek]

@57slingblade this isn't a crusade, but a means of establishing a dialogue. And, a question: should a guy who admitted to succeeding at breaking the rules be rewarded, no matter how beloved he may have been?

[jongreek]

All of these things have now passed into the lore of the game and nothing will be done about them. All are worthy of comment and discussion. the spitball was a legal pitch for many years until it was banned. Was Perry ever caught red-handed? He psyched a lot people out, but I can't recall him being caught with vaseline on the mound. Whitey ford threw a spitter and cut the ball with his wedding ring. Elston Howard, his catcher, would scuff the ball up on his shin guard buckles.

[weisfan]

pretty shitty to bag on a dead man.let it go.

[jongreek]

@weisfan So does that mean the deceased get a free pass even if they did something wrong?

[KissRules1961]

Oh Jongreek why dont you let it go.What does it matter 48 yrs later.The fact still remains Norm had to make contact and you left out this in your bash if him.He even admitted "Cash later said of the 1961 season: "It was a freak. Even at the time, I realized that. Everything I hit seemed to drop in, even when I didn't make good contact. I never thought I'd do it again".And ive been a Tiger fan since 1964,ive never heard Al Kaline complain about it,so DROP IT.

[borcice]

You didn't mention that Al Kaline was Cash's teamate. Kaline surely would have known; so either Cash didn't cheat, or he did and Kaline didn't care.

Are you doing this out of concern for Kaline? Or just because your like damaging someone's reputation?

Besides I never saw you get even a single in the Majors.

[nblackford1412]

Jon it looks like you stired the pot with a lot of people on this subject matter. Based on some of the comments in 40 years baseball fans will be over the roids erra. Great vid!

[deeniemarie7]

not going to judge one way or the other.jongreek you are obviously very compassionate about this and i respect that. i know that hank schenz stole signs from the dodgers in 1951 and this led to teammate bobby thomson's playoff homerun that won the pennant that year. and gaylord perry threw an illegal pitch for years as did some others. very interesting video.

[jonnythegreek1]

@bluv6 I'd drop it if someone had a good argument that said it's OK to use a jacked up bat to win a batting title. Cash said he cheated, and he probably didn't care he won the batting title. Just get it over with and give that crown to Kaline.

[bluv6]

Lets not forget that the Tigers won 101 games in 1961, which I'm certain was much more important to both Kaline and Cash than any batting title. You must be one hell of an Al Kaline fan to be going on about a batting race that happened 50 years ago, that was not of primary importance to either of the players at the time, and one of whose participants has been dead for 25 years already. Either that, or you're the pickiest man on Earth.