Get Your Balls Out Of That Humidor!

Although that sounds like the punch-line of the world’s strangest dirty joke, today’s headline is no laughing matter in Oakland, California. This report comes by way of Hal McCoy of Cox News Service and Scott Miller of CBS Sportsline

For the last five years, a humidor at Coors Field has kept baseballs in a 70-degree and 50 percent humidity environment, which didn’t help Oakland’s visit to Coors last week.

The Athletics were shut out twice in a row, prompting catcher Jason Kendall to say, “I feel there should be an investigation of the humidor.”

Does he think the Rockies are storing contraband Cuban cigars in it?

Well, humidors to store baseballs may soon come to a ballpark near you.

Major League Baseball is considering the use of humidors in more parks, according to Jimmie Lee Solomon, MLB’s executive vice president of baseball operations and humidor guru. “This is the wave of the future. We will talk about putting humidors in other major-league parks at our operations meetings. The Rockies are ahead of the times.”

Rawlings stores its manufactured baseballs in Missouri at 70 degrees and 50 percent humidity, along with a few boxes of executive cigars.

Why a humidor?

To combat a problem that once plagued George Costanza, in an entirely different way.

The problem is shrinkage. And this is a “rest of the story” that you’re not likely to hear from Paul Harvey.

More after the jump.

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