From this interview at White Sox Interactive:
ML: How about the ‘doctored’ baseballs and the field? How much did that have an effect?
JK: “We knew that they doctored home plate. That was because they had all those ground ball and sinker ball pitchers, and one time I was pitching against them and the baseball felt like a snowball in my hand, it was that cold! When I came to the Sox I remember talking to Roger Bossard (Author’s Note: Now the White Sox head groundskeeper) and I said something like ‘I’m pitching Saturday, make sure you’ve got the field ready.’ (laughing) And it’s a fact that the Sox used to have a light in the scoreboard at Comiskey Park that would tip off their hitters as to what kind of pitch was coming. Today the teams are more concerned about beautification of the field then about giving the home team an advantage.”
I discuss the White Sox freezing baseballs and the sign stealing in two chapters of The Cheater’s Guide to Baseball.
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