All-Star Pitcher Labels Yankees Ace ‘Worst Cheater’ In MLB History

Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Alek Manoah picked New York Yankees star pitcher Gerrit Cole as the worst cheater in Major League Baseball history.

Manoah appeared on Sportnet’s How Hungry Are You? with Milwaukee Bucks star and host of the show Serge Ibaka. Ibaka cooks for the famous athletes and celebrities brought on the show.

The two sat down at a kitchen table. Ibaka warned Manoah that if refused to answer a question, he would have to take a sip of tea with crickets in the glass. But if he answered, then Ibaka would take the drink. So the host put his guest right on the spot.

“Who is the worst cheater in baseball history?” Ibaka asked Manoah.

Manoah seemed hesitant to answer as he moved his head back and forth before he gave his answer.

“In baseball history? Cheater? Gerrit Cole,” Manoah said. “He cheated; he used a lot of sticky stuff to make his pitches better, and he kinda got called out on it.

“So this one’s for you,” Manoah added – sliding the glass to Ibaka for him to take a sip of the mixed tea drink.

The sticky stuff Manoah referred to is a foreign substance called “spider tack.” The substance helps pitchers grip the baseball better and helps increase their spin rate and command of their pitches.

Cole became the poster child for spider tack after the ban was put in place because he was called out by name in 2021 by former Minnesota Twins third baseman and current Yankees teammate Josh Donaldson.

“Is it coincidence that Gerrit Cole’s spin rate numbers went down after four minor leaguers got suspended for ten games?” Donaldson said in 2021. “Is that possible? I don’t know. Maybe. At the same time, with this situation, they’ve let guys do it.”

When Cole was asked in June 2021 if he used spider tack, he refused to deny it.

“I don’t know how to answer that,” Cole responded.

Immediately after MLB announced they would check pitchers’ hands after they walked off the mound, Cole pitched to a 5.25 earned run average in the six starts after.

MLB had many famous instances of cheating in its long history. The most memorable scandal took place in 1919 when members of the Chicago White Sox bet against themselves to lose the World Series, which resulted in eight players getting banned for life.

It was discovered in 2019 that the Houston Astros banged on trash cans to tell their teammates what pitch would be delivered when they won the 2017 World Series.

Manoah hit Yankees star Aaron Judge with a pitch on the arm in August of 2022, and Cole stormed out of the dugout ready to fight Manoah, but Cole did not go past the first base line. After the game, Manoah said he told Cole, “come all the way [to the mound] next time and see what happens.”

Watch above via Sportsnet.

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