E17 - Max Scherzer Ejected After Failing Illegal Substance Check - Umpires Found Hands Too Sticky

1B Umpire Phil Cuzzi ejected Mets pitcher Max Scherzer after a failed illegal substance check (repeat inspection failure) in the 4th inning of the Mets-Dodgers game in LA. After the game, Crew Chief Dan Bellino said, “It was so sticky that when we touched his hand, our fingers were sticking to his hand.“ Report: Facebook: Twitter: Discord: MLB first began mandating foreign substance inspections of pitchers’ hands, gloves, hats, and/or belts several seasons prior—Max Scherzer (as a member of the nationals) was one of the first pitchers to undergo a greater scrutiny inspection. Since then, baseball has become more regimented on how it wants umpires to enforce the foreign substance rule: starting pitchers are checked at several key points in the game (between innings) and relievers are checked at least once when they leave the field after their pitching performance (or at the end of the inning, whatever is first). 1B Umpire Cuzzi inspected Scherzer in the 3rd inning and at that point instructed Scherzer to wash his hands and/or remove his glove because of a concern over the amount of tack/stick. In the 4th, Scherzer again failed his illegal substance inspection and was ejected for violation of Official Baseball Rule (c)(7): “The pitcher shall not have on their person, or in their possession, any foreign substance.“ Rosin from the league-approved on-field rosin bag on the pitcher’s mound is explicitly legal, but it being used in combination with another substance is not.