Bubba Harkins, 55, the visiting clubhouse manager for the California Anaheim Los Angeles Angels during his nearly 40-year career, was fired last March for providing illegal ball-doctoring substances to visiting pitchers.
Bubba didn't much like losing his job.
Bubba believes he was made a “public scapegoat” in baseball’s efforts to crack down on the use of foreign substances so he filed a defamation suit in a California court today.
Bubba's suit indicates that his gum substance was popular among the Angels' staff as well as players visiting the clubhouse he managed. These visitors include Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Felix Hernandez, Corey Kluber, Adam Wainwright and ... Gerrit Cole.
Among the damaging pieces of evidence included in Harkins' suit is a transcript of a text message he exchanged with Cole. The full LA Times article includes this quote:
“Hey Bubba, it’s Gerrit Cole, I was wondering if you could help me out with this sticky situation,” the pitcher wrote, adding a wink emoji. “We don’t see you until May, but we have some road games in April that are in cold weather places. The stuff I had last year seizes up when it gets cold.”
Ugh. I mean, this is only resin and pine tar -- not metal files or sandpaper -- but, Ugh.
Bubba is seeking at least $4 million in damages if the case goes to trial. There was no indication of the price his customers paid for the magic substance.
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1 comment:
You left out Joba Chamberlain, another of Bubba's customers.
This is the kind of good, old-fashioned cheating that made baseball America's game. Not steroids and HGH, but baseballs knicked on sharpened buckles, slippery elm, bats filled with rubber balls--a tradition that will never die as long as players want to augment their natural skills. Which is never.
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