Brewers relief pitcher Will Smith joined a select club this spring — pitchers ejected for using a foreign substance on the mound.
He was only the fourth pitcher in 10 years suspended for the offense, joined later the same week by the Orioles' Brian Matusz.
Those rare ejections are calling attention to a little-enforced rule designed to prevent, as section 8.02(6) of the baseball rule book says, "what is called the shine ball, spit ball, mud ball or emery ball."
The spitball — equally infamous and mysterious in the annals of baseball — allows pitchers who master it an advantage on the mound.