The U.S. doesn’t have an official national sport, but it does have a national pastime. Baseball may not draw the raw numbers that football does anymore, but its historical significance and cultural value still give it a hallowed place among this country’s recreational offerings.

It’s a more relaxed sport than the crushing tackles of football or the fistfighting of hockey, both more primal, physical affairs. The rules of Major League Baseball evolve at a similarly leisurely pace and, on June 21, MLB began cracking down hard on a traditionally ignored form of cheating: grip enhancers by pitchers.

Pitchers have for decades used various foreign substances to give them a firmer grasp on the ball, ranging from sunscreen and Spider Tack, commonly used by powerlifters, to pine tar or even homemade concoctions. The substances can allow pitchers to alter the spin rate of the ball to make it harder to hit.

The league had long turned a blind eye to such cheating — and yes, even though it’s somewhat traditional, it’s against the rules of Major League Baseball to apply foreign substances to the ball.

Now, pitchers found in violation of the rules will face immediate ejections and 10-game suspensions with pay. And for repeat infractions, penalties will escalate.

Just because a form of cheating is traditional doesn’t make it good for the game, the players or the fans. Cleaning up the sport, and the ball, is a positive step toward maintaining baseball’s image as a wholesome American pastime.

That image was tarnished repeatedly by steroid usage in the mid-2000s. Record after record was set and broken by beloved players later exposed to have been cheating, damaging Americans’ faith in the game. League-wide testing for performance-enhancing drugs became mandatory in 2003, but by then the corrosion had already had its effect.

Pitchers adding sticky substances to the ball doesn’t have the same aura of desperation to it, but MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred acknowledged in a recent statement that the problem has been getting worse: “I understand there’s a history of foreign substances being used on the ball, but what we are seeing today is objectively far different, with much tackier substances being used more frequently than ever before. It has become clear that the use of foreign substances has generally morphed from trying to get a better grip on the ball into something else — an unfair competitive advantage that is creating a lack of action and an uneven playing field.”

That sounds like cheating, and league officials are right to bring down the hammer. For better or for worse, society, including children, look up to and idolize athletic stars. While football and hockey can be violent and rowdy, baseball has been a family-friendly sport that multiple generations can sit and watch in a stadium.

Integrity and fairness are key family values in America, and it’s good that one of this country’s favorite pastimes is working to get a grip on those values.

First Published: June 25, 2021, 4:00 a.m.