Al Leiter: I Used to Use 'Firm Grip'
With two pitchers in the last week -- Brian Matusz and Will Smith -- getting suspended for using a foreign substance on the mound to help with their grip, one former big-league pitcher thinks it's "a dumb rule," said he used to use something for grip and offered a solution.
"It's a stupid rule, Joe," Al Leiter said on the Joe Rose Show. "They should come up with a substance that you can get a good grip on the baseball that everybody has the access to it and you don't have to go creeping around and hiding and putting stuff on your hat or your belt or your pants or somewhere else. It's a dumb rule."
Did Leiter use anything during his playing days?
"Yeah I used to use Firm Grip," the former Marlins said. "I think tennis players or something used it. I used just a little -- just a tiny bit, nothing crazy -- and tried to get a grip."
Firm Grip is marketed as an "anti-slip spray" composed of a "natural rosin formula."
Leiter thinks 70 percent of pitchers use something to help with grip.
