The pitch remained an illicit presence in the game to the extent that in , MLB was moved to forbid any contact between pitching hand and mouth. As a result of the crackdown, spitballers became relatively rare, although Gaylord Perry doggedly persisted in using the pitch, thanks to various modes of subterfuge, well into the s.
The spitball effect could be achieved without spit, as you're probably aware. Vaseline did the job starting in the s, as did fishing line oil, among other things. Sweat also worked, and in bygone days it wasn't uncommon to encounter the term "sweat ball.
Circling back to Perry, it seemed really anything would do. Perry also used foreign substances to confuse the batter, as well. In the early s, he began throwing what he called the "puff ball. Not long after Perry started using the puff ball, MLB banned such dusting of the ball. While earlier foreign substance efforts aimed to make the ball dance on the way to the plate or, in some instances, operate in optically deceptive ways, pitchers eventually sought to improve their grip on the ball.
Much of this involves the use of rosin, which is permitted rosin is found in the small bag on the mound that pitchers use from time to time during an appearance as long as you're not caking the ball in it like Perry did. However, if you mix rosin with something like sunscreen, spit, or sweat, then it becomes a much more effective grip enhancer.
In addition to affording better control, improved grip can also allow pitchers to increase the amount of spin they impart upon the baseball. That, in turn, tends to make their pitches more effective. Pine tar, which can be legally used by hitters and is thus found in any big-league clubhouse, improves grip and spin quite well, and for a long time that was the grip-and-spin enhancer of choice. Pitchers aren't allowed to use it, but it doesn't take a miracle of espionage to dab it on your hat or inside your glove and head to the mound although maybe not on your neck, as Michael Pineda would likely attest.
The wisdom of doing that in the middle of a season is dubious at best, but MLB has long been prone to reactive problem solving. History, much like the lubricant applied to baseballs, is fluid, so this particular chronicling of the use of foreign substances can't be considered complete.
That's because the use of foreign substances by pitchers isn't yet a thing of the past -- efforts to make it so notwithstanding -- and probably never will be. Goodbye 'godsend': Expiration of child tax credits hits home. Here's a look at teams of today and yesteryear. The s didn't have a lot of premier pitchers in terms of star power, but there were still plenty of hurlers who could strike out hitters at high rates.
This article will count down Major League Baseball's 10 best strikeout pitchers of the s. Team Sports. American Football. Individual Sports. Competitive Cycling. Martial Arts. Competitive Swimming. Pro Wrestling. Fantasy Sports. The Olympics. Animal Sports. Five Tips for Adult Figure Skaters. Related Articles.
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By baseballbrains. Old-Time Baseball Trivia How wide is home plate? By Teri Silver. Baseball's Great Debate Baseball: America's national pastime. The death was not just the result of the errant path of the spitball, but also the dirty ball and the dimly lit field -- in the early years of the game, umpires less frequently introduced new, clean balls into play and stadiums lacked the bright lights synonymous with modern-day parks.
Major League Baseball outlawed the spitball at the end of that season, although a grandfather clause allowed some players to continue throwing the pitch. Despite the banning of the spitball in , many pitchers continued to use the pitch. National Baseball Hall of Fame member Gaylord Perry, whose career spanned from to , was among the game's most successful spitballers and titled his autobiography "Me and the Spitter. As recently as May of , the spitball dominated baseball headlines after TV cameras caught Miami Marlins pitcher Alex Sanabia spitting on a ball.
Toronto-based journalist William McCoy has been writing since , specializing in topics such as sports, nutrition and health. Alternative names for the spitball are mud ball , shine ball and emery ball , although technically, an emery ball is one where the ball has been abraded in much the same way that the original cut ball had been physically cut. Preparing a spitball is roughly analogous to ball tampering in cricket , an action in which a fielder illegally alters the condition of the ball.
The invention of the spitball has been popularly credited to a number of individuals, among them Elmer Stricklett and Frank Corridon. Numerous accounts, however, refer to different players experimenting with versions of the spitball throughout the latter half of the 19th century, and it remains unlikely that any one individual "invented" the spitball [1].
Ed Walsh , however, is certainly responsible for popularizing it. Walsh dominated the American League from primarily on the strength of his spitball, and pitchers around the league soon copied his spitball or invented their own trick pitch. The dramatic increase in the popularity of "freak deliveries" led to a great deal of controversy throughout the s regarding the abolition of the spitball and related pitches.
In his autobiography , Ty Cobb wrote that such "freak pitches" "were outlawed when the owners greedily sold out to home runs. As a result, the spitball was banned in two stages. In the winter of , managers voted to partially ban the spitball, allowing each team to designate at most two pitchers who would be permitted to legally throw spitballs.
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