Ex-New York Pitcher Shocks Viewers with ‘Sticky Stuff’ Experiment on Live TV

Last week, New York Mets' ace Max Scherzer found himself in a sticky situation.

More specifically, "Max Max" was caught in the crosshairs of umpire Phil Cuzzi, who ejected Scherzer from his start last Wednesday against the Dodgers after finding "sticky stuff" on his hands during multiple innings, something pitchers are now banned from having while on-the-mound.

According to Scherzer, he was just using the substance rosin, which is legal in Major League Baseball, but a former New York pitcher went on national TV this weekend to show baseball fans why rosin may not be as harmless as we once thought.

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Ex-Yankee and Met Pitcher Displays "Sticky Stuff" Experiment on Live TV

A story from The New York Post and other outlets commented on a segment done on this weekend's Sunday Night Baseball broadcast on ESPN, which featured the New York Mets and the San Francisco Giants.

During the fourth inning of the broadcast, former New York Mets and Yankees' pitcher David Cone ran a science experiment, of sorts. He experimented with the substance rosin, and combined rosin with other substances to tell the story of why Max Scherzer was suspended by the league, and why he then chose not to appeal it.

Here's the video clip of the experiment:

First and foremost, I give ESPN and Cone a massive amount of credit for putting this segment together. Many baseball fans have heard the dialogue about "sticky stuff" being used in the league, but not as many fans have an understanding of why it's been such a major issue.

Aside from that, however, the segment also shed some light on what has been a very bizarre situation playing out in Queens. If you missed the initial story, Scherzer was ejected last week for having a form of "sticky stuff" on his hands, and apparently, not washing it off when asked to do so by the umpiring crew.

Scherzer stated that he had been applying rosin, and when he was asked to wash his hands, washed them with alcohol as a means of "removing" whatever substance he had on his hands. This was his way of proclaiming his innocence, at the time.

Take a look at this clip from last week:

That said, as shown by Cone and stated by The Post, alcohol interacts differently with rosin than with some other substances. It will, in essence, "activate" the rosin, making it much stickier than when you apply it to a dry surface.

Scherzer knew exactly what he was doing when he applied alcohol, and happened to be working with an umpire that had already been involved in two other substance-related ejections in the past year. So, when the league announced that they were suspending Scherzer for ten games, and Scherzer chose not to appeal the suspension, it proved his knowledge of what he was doing, and his guilt.

Once again, credit is deserved for Cone and the ESPN crew, for making a complex issue easier to understand for the average baseball fan. If baseball broadcasts can continue to do that, the sport will benefit in the long-run.