Brian Harkins, fired for providing sticky stuff, settles with Angels - ESPN

Brian Harkins, the longtime Los Angeles Angels clubhouse attendant who was fired for distributing foreign substances to players, has settled his defamation lawsuit with his former employer, ending a three-year saga that at one point saw the case get struck down in court.

Jury selection for a trial in Orange County Superior Court was scheduled to begin Monday, but the two sides reached a settlement over the weekend. The amount was not disclosed.

Harkins, who had worked as the visiting clubhouse attendant at Angel Stadium since 1990, was fired in March 2020 in the early stages of Major League Baseball's efforts to crack down on the use of sticky substances that were taking spin rates to disproportionately high levels. For decades, Harkins crafted a blend of rosin, pine tar and «Mota stick» — a type of glue used to grip bats — that was popular among pitchers but violated a memo that emphasized the rule disallowing illegal substances and stated that team personnel was forbidden from facilitating in the use of it.

Harkins' attorneys initially argued that their client was unfairly cast as a «scapegoat» in MLB's venture, noting that the entire industry — pitchers, hitters, umpires, coaches, even executives — had ignored the use of illegal substances because it was widely beneficial for pitchers to maintain proper grip of baseballs that were often too slick when brought into play. Harkins alleged to have never profited off the distribution, chalking it up to a courtesy that fell in line with his duties as a clubhouse attendant, and said he was never given a copy of the memo, distributed by former MLB executive Chris Young only days before his firing.

An opposition to MLB's request to dismiss the original lawsuit in January 2021