And an Easter Rabbit

Thwack! It is that time of year again.

Among the Florida citrus groves and stands of Arizona cacti, the boys of summer are loosening up their highly priced limbs. When the conversation is not about the greening of their America --baseball salaries have soared in three years--it is about another lively new facet of the grand old game.

Rawlings Co. now makes the official major league baseball after a 101-year Spalding reign, and the scuttlebutt is that Rawlings is turning out a rabbit ball. Says Cincinnati Reds Batting Coach Ted Kluszewski: "The ball moves faster through the infield." Adds a baseball executive: "Lay it in the lettuce patch, and it hops up at you."

One explanation making the rounds:

Rawlings has the whole ball manufactured in Haiti, whereas Spalding made the balls domestically and shipped them to Haiti--where labor is cheaper--to be stitched. One theory is that the extra trip made Spalding's balls softer; they suffered from jet sag. Absurd? Sure. But what else is there to talk about on Grapefruit League buses? Tax shelters?

Footnote: baseball statisticians have announced this is the 52nd spring in the past 77 with recorded rabbit-ball accusations. That's an RB average of .675.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.