Mitch Williams tells great stories about pitchers cheating
MLB Network analyst Mitch Williams joined the show to talk about the pine tar controversy from this week.
Dan asked Mitch if he respected Nationals manager Davey Johnson for alerting the umps to the Rays’ Joel Peralta. “No, I don’t,” Williams said. “I respect Davey Johnson as a manager. I don’t respect what he did.”
Williams talked about Davey Johnson managing the Mets in 1988 and calling out the Dodgers’ Jay Howell. But meanwhile, Johnson had a guy in his bullpen who bended the rules. “He had a closer covered in every kind of vaseline and liquid you could find,” Williams said. Williams later revealed it was Roger McDowell.
“Everyone knew what he did,” Williams said of his former teammate McDowell. “Do you think anyone in Philly was going to say anything? No.”
But Williams said you don’t need vaseline or pine tar. “You can affect the ball much more by being able to go to your mouth on the mound more than pine tar,” Williams said.
Williams told great stories about McDowell and rumors about Nolan Ryan scuffing balls. Williams said he knew all kinds of pitchers who were doing things.