More Phil Regan-related goodness. In the 6/29/1968 Sporting News (p16), Braves manager Luman Harris vents about the strange enforcement of new anti-spitball rules that year.
Harris and the Braves claimed that Regan got a substance of some kind from his forehead and put it on the ball.
“He did it every pitch,” said Harris.
But I don’t blame Regan, I don’t blame (Leo) Durocher and I don’t blame the umpires. What he did is legal, the way the rule is today.
“Why, you can set a bucket of water next to the mound and stick your hand in it all day just as long as you don’t go to your mouth.”
Harris is obviously exaggerating there, but let it go, as Harris talks about the new rule that going to the mouth while on the mound is an automatic ball.
“They’re enforcing that, all right,” said Harris. “But you can put stuff in your hair, on your cap or uniform. I know what these guys are using – and where they get it. It comes in a tube. But what’s the use of saying anything?”
The interesting thing is that Harris is entirely right: pitchers like Gaylord Perry and Phil Regan, seeing the rules change to focus enforcement on the mouth, figured out how they could continue to throw their “hard slider” and get away with it.
I found writing the book that there were a lot of little hints like this that rewarded more research, or confirmed other suspicions. Sometimes, like here, I could track the rest of Regan’s hijinks until Harris’ remarks fit into a larger puzzle, and sometimes, like with Tommy John, I ended up with nothing substantial enough to put in the book.
