Here is some info I found regarding corked bats around the time Albert Belle was caught using one.
The corked bat thing may be true, but if so it was likely giving little if any advantage to Belle. Robert K. Adair's MLB-commissioned "The Physics of Baseball" (1990) spends a chapter discussing corked and other altered bats, and concludes that a corked bat offers a slight increase in bat speed (because 1.5-2 ounces lost come at the end of hte bat) but results in lost power because the cork or rubber that is used in the hole cuts down on the stored energy that is normally given back to the ball in the ball-bat collision. To a monster hitter like Belle, the feet lost off the homerun swing are possibly worth it for that slight increase in ability to time the pitch with a lighter bat, but interestingly offers no advantage over the hitter simply choking up on the bat or reducing the bat's barrel size from 2.5 to 2.4 inches in diameter.
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If they don't work, why would someone risk their career on such a thing?
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Nobody said baseball players were real smart.