Albert Belle's Corked Bat

July 15, 1994, Cleveland at Chicago. The umpires took Albert Belle's bat out of the game before he could use it. What happened next is the part the players later told on themselves. Pitcher Jason Grimsley crawled through the crawlspace above the clubhouse ceiling, dropped into the umpires' room, and replaced the confiscated bat with one belonging to teammate Paul Sorrento.

The switch did not survive a look at the barrel. The bat in the umpires' care was not Belle's model. The bat they had originally taken was corked. Belle was suspended seven games. Cork in a bat is an old trick, illegal because it lightens the barrel and changes how the ball comes off it. The ceiling crawl is what separated this one from a routine suspension.

Belle was the hitter. Grimsley was the operation. The rule is simple enough that the ingenuity spent getting around it is the embarrassing half of the story.