KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- New York Mets fans on social media might have been riled up by apparent pine tar on Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez's shin guard during the Royals' Game 1 World Series win. Mets manager Terry Collins had no such issue.
"Every catcher in baseball has pine tar on their shin guard," Collins said Wednesday. "And it's for them. It's really hard to transfer that on the ball and have it give the pitcher something to hold onto -- especially as many times as they throw out balls today."
Royals manager Ned Yost made no attempt to hide the usage.
"It's not illegal for a catcher to get an extra grip," Yost said.
Asked whether Mets catcher Travis d'Arnaud does the same thing, Collins said, "I don't know if Travis does it. He probably does. But I've seen throughout baseball -- everywhere -- you have it. And again, catchers, they've got to get a grip, too, especially on cold and damp nights. They need a grip on the baseball, so they use pine tar for themselves.
"You know what? It's so obvious. The umpires see it, too. ... I don't think there's really enough to put on there that you can wipe it on and throw the ball back to the pitcher to where it's going to affect how the pitcher throws the baseball," Collins said. "I go back to my days in [Triple-A] Albuquerque. When it was cold and dry, and I had pitchers, you couldn't shake their [sticky] hand because you couldn't get your hand away from them. The argument was: You can either do this or you can let this wild sucker throw some balls at 95 mph with no command. I think any hitter would say, 'Let him have a little command. It's OK.'"
