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Spitball
A spitball is an illegal baseball pitch in which the ball has been altered by the application of a foreign substance such as saliva or petroleum jelly. This technique alters the wind resistance and weight on one side of the ball, causing it to move in an atypical manner. It may also cause the ball to "slip" out of the pitcher's fingers without the usual spin that accompanies a pitch. In this sense, a spitball can be thought of as a fastball with knuckleball action. Alternative names for the spitball are ''spitter'', ''mud ball'', ''shine ball'', ''supersinker'', or ''vaseline ball'' (because originally, Vaseline was used to give the ball a little more break). A spitball technically differs from an emery ball, in which the surface of the ball is cut or abraded. Saliva or Vaseline smooths the baseball, while the emery paper roughens it. The general term for altering the ball in any way is ''doctoring''. History The invention of the spitball has been popularly credited to a numbe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elmer Stricklett
Elmer Griffin Stricklett (August 29, 1876 – June 7, 1964) was an American professional baseball pitcher. He pitched in Major League Baseball for the Chicago White Sox and Brooklyn Superbas from 1904 through 1907. Including his time in minor league baseball, Stricklett pitched professionally from 1897 through 1912. Stricklett is considered one of the pioneers of the spitball. He learned the pitch while playing in the minor leagues. He later taught the spitball to Ed Walsh and Jack Chesbro, both of whom were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Career Stricklett attended Santa Clara University, where he played college baseball for the Santa Clara Broncos baseball team. He began his professional career in minor league baseball with the Topeka Colts of the Kansas State League in 1897. In 1898, he pitched for the Salina Blues and Atchison Huskers of the Kansas State League, before joining the Dallas Colts of the Class-C Texas League later that year. He pit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ray Fisher (baseball)
Ray Lyle Fisher (October 4, 1887 – November 3, 1982) was an American professional baseball pitcher and college coach. He pitched all or part of ten seasons in Major League Baseball. His debut game took place on July 2, 1910. His final game took place on October 2, 1920. During his early professional career he played for the New York Yankees and Cincinnati Reds. From 1921 to 1958, he coached the University of Michigan Wolverines baseball team, and served as assistant coach for basketball and football. In 1929 and 1932 he took the baseball team to Japan for a month each time at the invitation of Meiji University, where they played several games against Japanese university teams around the nation. Early life Nicknamed "Pick" (short for the freshwater fish pickerel), Fisher was an all-around athlete who played football, basketball, baseball, and competed in track events, though his father permitted sports only if the farm work was done. He played on Vermont's 1904 State Champio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Burleigh Grimes
Burleigh Arland Grimes (August 18, 1893 – December 6, 1985) was an American professional baseball player and manager, and the last pitcher officially permitted to throw the spitball. Grimes made the most of this advantage, as well as his unshaven, menacing presence on the mound, which earned him the nickname "Ol' Stubblebeard." He won 270 MLB games, pitched in four World Series over the course of his 19-year career, and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1964. A decade earlier, he had been inducted into the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame. Early life Born in Emerald, Wisconsin, Grimes was the first child of Cecil "Nick" Grimes, a farmer and former day laborer, and the former Ruth Tuttle, the daughter of a former Wisconsin legislator. Having previously played baseball for several local teams, Nick Grimes managed the Clear Lake Yellow Jackets and taught his son how to play the game early in life. Burleigh Grimes also participated in boxing as a child. Grimes threw and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ed Walsh
Edward Augustine "Big Ed" Walsh (May 14, 1881 – May 26, 1959) was an American pitcher and manager in Major League Baseball. From 1906 to 1912, he had several seasons where he was one of the best pitchers in baseball. Injuries shortened his career. Walsh holds the record for lowest career earned run average, 1.82.Coffey (2004), pp. 26–33. He is one of two modern (post-1901) pitchers to win 40 or more games in a single season, and the last pitcher to do so. He is the last pitcher from any team to throw more than 400 innings in a single season, a feat that he most recently accomplished in 1908. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946. Early life Walsh was born in Plains Township, Pennsylvania, to Michael and Jane Walsh. He worked in the Luzerne County coal mines when he was young. Walsh started his professional baseball career with the 1902 Meriden Silverites of the Connecticut State League. After playing the 1903 season with the Meriden Silverites and Newark S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ray Chapman
Raymond Johnson Chapman (January 15, 1891 – August 17, 1920) was an American baseball player. He spent his entire career as a shortstop for the Cleveland Indians. Chapman was hit in the head by a pitch thrown by pitcher Carl Mays and died 12 hours later. He is the only player to die directly from an injury received during a major league game. His death led baseball to establish a rule requiring umpires to replace the ball whenever it becomes dirty. Chapman's death and sanitary concerns also led to the ban on spitballs after the 1920 season. Chapman's death was one of the examples cited to justify the wearing of batting helmets. However, it took over 30 years to adopt the rule that required their use. Career Chapman was born in Beaver Dam, Kentucky, and raised in Herrin, Illinois. He broke into the major leagues in 1912 with the Cleveland team, then known as the Naps. Chapman led the American League in runs scored and walks in 1918. A top-notch bunter, Chapman is six ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carl Mays
Carl William Mays (November 12, 1891 – April 4, 1971) was an American baseball pitcher who played 15 seasons in Major League Baseball from 1915 to 1929. During his career, he won over 200 games, 27 in 1921 alone, and was a member of four World Series-champion teams. On August 16, 1920, Mays threw the pitch that fatally injured Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians, the only major league player to die as a direct result of an on-field injury.''Carl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emery Ball
An emery ball is an illegal pitch in baseball, in which the ball has been altered by scuffing it with a rough surface, such as an emery board or sandpaper. This technique alters the spin of the ball, causing it to move in an atypical manner, as more spin makes the ball rise, while less spin makes the ball drop. The general term for altering the ball in any way is ''doctoring''. The emery ball differs from the spitball, in which the ball is doctored by applying saliva or vaseline. Vaseline or saliva smooths the baseball, while the emery paper roughens it. Russ Ford discovered the emery ball in the minor leagues in 1907 when he saw what a scuff on a baseball did to its movement. He began keeping emery paper in his baseball glove. Though he initially kept the pitch a secret, he had to inform his catcher, Ed Sweeney, about it. Sweeney taught it to other pitchers, and the pitch was discovered when an umpire found emery paper in Ray Keating's glove in 1914. The pitch was outlawe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pitch (baseball)
In baseball, the pitch is the act of throwing the baseball toward home plate to start a play. The term comes from the Knickerbocker Rules. Originally, the ball had to be thrown underhand, much like "pitching in horseshoes". Overhand pitching was not allowed in baseball until 1884. The biomechanics of pitching have been studied extensively. The phases of pitching include the windup, early cocking, late cocking, early acceleration, late acceleration, deceleration, and follow-through. Pitchers throw a variety of pitches, each of which has a slightly different velocity, trajectory, movement, hand position, wrist position and/or arm angle. These variations are introduced to confuse the batter and ultimately aid the defensive team in getting the batter or baserunners out. To obtain variety, and therefore enhance defensive baseball strategy, the pitcher manipulates the grip on the ball at the point of release. Variations in the grip cause the seams to catch the air differently, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Home Run
In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run is usually achieved by hitting the ball over the outfield fence between the foul poles (or hitting either foul pole) without the ball touching the field. Far less common is the "inside-the-park" home run where the batter reaches home safely while the baseball is in play on the field. When a home run is scored, the batter is credited with a hit and a run scored, and a run batted in ( RBI) for each runner that scores, including himself. Likewise, the pitcher is recorded as having given up a hit and a run, with additional runs charged for each runner that scores other than the batter. Home runs are among the most popular aspects of baseball and, as a result, prolific home run hitters are usually the most popular among fans and consequently ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Doc Ayers
Yancey Wyatt "Doc" Ayers (May 21, 1891 – May 26, 1968) was an American pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB). He was known for throwing the spitball, and was one of the 17 pitchers allowed to continue throwing the pitch after it was outlawed in 1920. Ayers played nine seasons in the American League with the Washington Senators (1913–19) and Detroit Tigers (1919–21). He batted and threw right-handed. Doc Ayers was born in Carroll County, Virginia on May 20, 1890. He attended Woodlawn High School (Woodlawn, Virginia) where he tried out for the school's baseball team. He gained the nickname "Doc" after he enrolled in the Medical College of Virginia, now the medical campus of Virginia Commonwealth University, in Richmond. While at MCV, he bought a book on pitching. He was a catcher at WHS but when the call came for college baseball tryouts he reported as a pitcher. Ayers was the opposing pitcher for the Senators on June 23, 1917, against the Boston Red Sox. Ernie Shore re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ray Caldwell
Raymond Benjamin Caldwell (April 26, 1888 – August 17, 1967) was an American professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball for the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, and Cleveland Indians from 1910 to 1921. He was known for throwing the spitball, and he was one of the 17 pitchers allowed to continue throwing the pitch after it was outlawed in 1920. Caldwell was notorious during his playing career for his addiction to alcohol and partying; he possessed a self-destructive streak that many of his contemporaries believed stopped him from reaching his potential. In 1924, Miller Huggins wrote: "Caldwell was one of the best pitchers that ever lived, but he was one of those characters that keep a manager in a constant worry. If he had possessed a sense of responsibility and balance, Ray Caldwell would have gone down in history as one of the greatest of all pitchers." Yet, despite his achievements on the field and his antics off it, Caldwell was struck by lightnin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phil Douglas (baseball)
Phillip Brooks Douglas (June 17, 1890 – August 1, 1952) was an American baseball player. He was known as "Shufflin' Phil", most likely because of his slow gait from the bullpen to the mound. Douglas originally signed with the Chicago White Sox in 1912, but soon landed with the Cincinnati Reds. In 1915, he was traded to the Brooklyn Dodgers, then to the Chicago Cubs. Douglas' short stints with these and future teams stemmed from their frustrations with his well-documented alcoholism, about which a contemporary journalist wrote, "Drinking was not a habit with Douglas—it was a disease." His throwing error on a sacrifice bunt in Game 4 of the 1918 World Series gave the Boston Red Sox a 3–2 victory over the Cubs. In 1919, he was signed by the New York Giants. John McGraw had some luck in keeping Douglas' drinking under control. In 1920, Douglas had a 14–10 record and a 2.71 ERA. Following the season, the spitball was banned but 17 players, including Douglas, were allowed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
