The text message from former Houston Astros star Gerrit Cole to former Angels visiting club manager Brian “Bubba” Harkins was sent on January 17, 2019 at 11:39 am.
“Hey, Bubba, it’s Gerrit Cole, I wonder if you could help me with this complicated situation,” wrote the launcher, adding a wink emoji. “We don’t see them until May, but we have some road games in April that are in places with cold weather. What I had last year crashes when it gets cold. “
The exchange between Cole, now the New York Yankees star, and Harkins, who was fired last March for supplying illegal substances to administer balls to visiting pitchers, was submitted to the Orange County Superior Court as evidence on Thursday by a lawyer who claimed that Harkins had been made a “public scapegoat” in baseball’s efforts to crack down on the use of foreign substances.
Harkins, who spent nearly four decades with the Angels, was dismissed after the Angels discovered, through an MLB investigation, that he was providing visiting pitchers with a mixture of sticky substances to help them hold the ball.
Harkins, 55, filed a defamation complaint against the Angels and Major League Baseball at the Orange County Superior Court on August 28. The Angels and MLB filed a motion to dismiss the complaint on 2 November.
In opposition to the motion, filed on Thursday, Harkins said that many Angels have used their mixture of rosin and pine tar over the years, “including Troy Percival, Brendan Donnelly, Tyler Chatwood, Kevin Jepsen and, most recently, Cam Bedrosian, Keynan Middleton, Yusmeiro Petit, Luke Bard, Matt Andriese, Dylan Peters, Jose Suarez and Dylan Bundy. ”
Percival, the closest Angels from 1995 to 2004, acknowledged in September that he taught Harkins to mix tar and pitch in spring training “mainly because it was very dry in Arizona and the balls were very slippery”.
Harkins also said the MLB has evidence involving several famous pitchers – including Cole, Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Felix Hernandez, Corey Kluber and Adam Wainwright – for using strange substances to improve their grip on the ball.
Harkins was fired by former Angels general manager Billy Eppler on March 3, three days after the league issued a memo to the teams saying it would be applying a long-ignored policy that prohibits the use of illegal substances to increase control of the pitcher. Batters rarely complain because better grip often means better control – and less chance of being hit on the head by a 155 mph fastball.
Justin Verlander plays for Houston Astros against Washington Nationals in game 6 of the 2019 World Series.
(Bob Levey / Getty Images)
Harkins was interviewed by lawyers at MLB and the Angels on March 26 as part of an investigation into the use of illegal substances.
Harkins ‘lawyer, Daniel Rasmussen, said in the Thursday document that the Angels “did not want their players to be disciplined and ashamed” and that the MLB did not want to face another “scandal” in the wake of the Astros’ plate theft controversy. Rasmussen said that Harkins was labeled a “traitor, cheater and a fraud” by fans after news of his resignation and is now unemployed.
“Our point is that Bubba was made a one-man scapegoat, and that they did this ‘investigation’ in an effort to protect the players,” said Rasmussen. “No player was disciplined, and Bubba was attacked for all that. Your reputation has been destroyed. “
Rasmussen said he will seek at least $ 4 million in damages if the case goes to trial. An Angels spokesman said the team could not comment on pending legal issues. A January 21 hearing was scheduled for a judge to determine whether the case will proceed.
Harkins’ filing on Thursday included statements from former top league players Wally Joyner, who spent seven years of his 16-year career in Anaheim, and Mike Sweeney, who spent 13 years of his 16-year career in Kansas City .
Both said that Harkins “was not a traitor to his team” and that “many people within the Angels organization knew about the mixture of pitch and pine tar that Harkins used to make for pitchers. Many Angels pitchers have used it over the years. “
Vince Willet, who worked as a batboy and visiting assistant at Angels headquarters from 2009 to 2017, also filed a statement on behalf of Harkins.
“Bubba did not make this mixture in secret,” wrote Willet. “As far as I know, all Angels pitchers, coaches and managers knew and encouraged the use of Bubba’s mix. I specifically remember an occasion when the Angels pitcher, CJ Wilson, approached Bubba and me in the lobby between the two clubs. In the conversation, Wilson referred to the mixture as ‘the material in the bullpen bag’. “