Would baseball pitching be the same, if the ball were perfectly spherical i.e. with no stiching? Is it the stiches that allow pitchers to do different things with the ball or how they “pitch” it. I ask that because many times I’ve heard commentators say that the movement on the ball comes from finger pressure apllied in different ways.
On the same note, can anyone explain the spitball? Some have told me that the ball buzzes when it reaches home plate, while others say that just a little weight i.e. spit or some other foreign substance will make the ball move because it throws the rotation off-center. If the latter, then why don’t more pitchers doctor the ball?
Without stitches it would be impossible to throw curveballs. IT’s the rotation of the stitches (or in the cae of knuckleballs, the lack of rotation) that causes them to break.
I am sure what the commentators were saying was that finger pressure is important to achieve the correct release and, hence, rotation. This is especially true of knuckleballs, which must be thrown off the fingertips to achieve their rotation-free flight.
To answer your last question first, because it’s against the rules. Has been for eighty years. Any pitcher caught doctoring a baseball is automatically ejected and will almost certainly be suspended. Not that some don’t try. And frankly, it’s hard to do at the professional and college levels anyway, because the baseball is replaced so often; you’ll get a good scuff on a ball, and before you know it the ump replaces it with a fresh one.
To answer the first, yes, it can cause an unusual break if the ball is scuffed or has something stuck to it.
I believe the main logic against the spitball is that the wetness makes it difficult for the batter to get a good hit on it. What might have been a home run becomes a pop-up, etc.
That used to be the case, but it’s simply not true anymore; most modern knuckleballers throw it off the fingertips.
There are a few pictures here of knuckleball grips; as you can see, Steve Sparks, Tim Wakefield, Hoyt Wilhelm, Phil Neikro, and a few other guys I can’t identify demonstrate fingertip grips on their knucklers.
The stitches on a baseball allow a pitcher to [ol]
[li]impart various spins depending upon how the ball is gripped; the rotation of the ball is what gives the pitch the trajectory the pitcher intends[/li][li]the effect of air resistance on the ball varies with the rotation of the ball and with the density of the air (hence most sea level parks help pitchers, while higher parks such as Bank One and Coors tend to favour hitters)[/li][li]this affects not only breaking balls (curves, sliders, etc) but fastballs; there are various fastball grips which result in varying behaviours of the pitch[/li][li]spitballs or scuffed balls also depend on air resistance against the doctored portion as well as against the stitches/rotatation for their effect; it is the resulting unpredictability of their movement which gives them any effectiveness they might have[/li][li]because they have very little spin, knuckleballs also have unpredictable trajectories but because they can’t be thrown as hard as doctored balls they are not considered dangerously unfair to the hitter[/li][/ol]
Worth noting that when the spitball was outlawed due to its giving an unfair advantage to the pitcher, several (IIRC, eight) pitchers who had made their careers by using the spitball were specifically excluded from the ban – they, and only they, could throw legal spitballs afterwards. The last one retired about thirteen years after the ban was put into effect.
IIRC… when you throw a spitball, despite the fact that the motion looks as though you are throwing a fastball, the ball doesn’t rotate the same way, and the pitch behaves differently. If batting is all about timing, and good pitching is about upsetting timing, a spitball (or soapball or slippery elmball) is a useful weapon for a pitcher.
Also, another reason they banned the spitball was because of the Spanish Influenza Epidemic that was ravaging the country at the time.
In throwing the “spitball” the pitcher need not use spit. Wetting the fingers before grasping the ball or spitting on it would be quite noticeable. The spitball, being illegal for all these years, had to be delivered so noone would notice. Some pitchers used petroleum jelly on the bills of their caps. That would serve the same purpose. If an umpire suspected a spitball, he’d call for the ball and inspect it.
Gaylord Perry was suspected of throwing a spitball, but noone could detect it. Umps called for his pitches often, unable to detect it. After he retired, in his upper 40s, he admitted that he did use a spitball. I don’t know how he did it or how it went undetected, other than a catcher could rough the ball up first and possibly destroy all incriminating evidence. This is not to detract from his career. He was one of the few baseball players who worked out year 'round. I’d see him working out at a gym near Minneapolis, running sprints before spring training. That’s probably why he was able to pitch for so long. That along with the spitball.
Another trick to get the ball to act like a spitter is to slightly scuff it. A cheating pitcher will hide a tiny piece of sand paper of emory board in his glove.
So what happens when the rain starts? I have watched many a game that kept on going until the downpour ensued. Sometimes just a few batters, sometimes a few innings. It seems to me, that, if either pitcher is familiar with the spit ball, all pitches during the rain are going to be very wet, no?
It is a very difficult pitch to throw, like the knuckleball. Pitchers must practice it for years before mastering it. It is released with a squeeze of the thumb and forefinger, like squirting a watermelon seed between your fingers.
Contrary to what was said above, at least in my experience, (caught for a spitballer in college) the pitch looks nothing like any other pitch, and it is almost impossible to predict its trajectory. Think of a knuckleball going 25 mph faster.
Gaylord Perry was an anachronism, and any umpire who wanted to bust him surely could have. They just let it go. He is probably the last real spitballer we’ll ever see. It is just too easy to detect.
My freakin’ forearms still have bruises 20 years later.
Pitchers aren’t even allowed to touch put their hands near their mouth. If it’s very cold they ask for and usually get permission to blow on their throwing hand.
