Post by daleko on Aug 15, 2015 23:20:42 GMT -5
Explaining the notorious and mysterious spitball
By Eric Hamilton of the Journal Sentinel
Aug. 15, 2015 4:18 p.m.
Brewers relief pitcher Will Smith joined a select club this spring — pitchers ejected for using a foreign substance on the mound. He was only the fourth pitcher in 10 years suspended for the offense, joined later the same week by the Orioles' Brian Matusz. Those rare ejections are calling attention to a little-enforced rule designed to prevent, as section 8.02(6) of the baseball rule book says, "what is called the shine ball, spit ball, mud ball or emery ball."
The spitball — equally infamous and mysterious in the annals of baseball — allows pitchers who master it an advantage on the mound. Every scuff, cut, or glob of Vaseline, every topspin curveball and wobbling knuckleball: each alters the physical forces that control the ball's fate to fool the batter. From legal pitches to illegal "foreign substances" and natural scuff marks, pitchers win or lose based on their ability to rule the baseball's 60-foot flight path from pitching rubber to home plate principally by controlling one crucial condition: spin.
For example, a fastball with backspin opposes gravity. "One way to think about this is that the ball is pushing the air downward," said Alan Nathan, a retired particle physicist and expert on the physics of baseball at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. As it pushes the air down, the backspinning baseball gains lift, like an airplane wing as air passes over it. Viewed from home plate, the ball will curve in the direction it spins — backspin creates lift; topspin causes the ball to sink; sidespin pushes the ball laterally. This is called the Magnus effect, and to a large degree it separates a fastball from a curveball. Anything that changes how a ball spins, especially in an unexpected way, can help the pitcher stay on top of the batter.
A ground ball to second and throw to first gets a 4-3 out and the baseball comes back to the mound with a small scuff mark on one side from the dirt. Sometimes, that's all it takes to throw a new pitch. "If I had a scuffed ball I wasn't about to throw it out because I could make it do certain things," said Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers, who pitched for the Brewers from 1981 to 1985, in a phone interview. "If you hold the scuff on the right side, the ball will go left," he said. "You put it on top and maybe a little sidearm, the ball will sink. "It's aerodynamics, is what it is."
But in most baseball games today, balls sometimes only last one pitch — rarely a whole inning — before getting thrown out. Scuffs, marks and cuts cannot accumulate over time and make each ball unique. "It's kind of tough to keep a scuffed ball or a cut ball in the game anymore," Fingers said.
Without these natural advantages, pitchers are left to their own devices on the mound. The unpredictable knuckleball While a fastballer wants as much backspin as possible and a curveball needs topspin to sink, there is one tricky — though perfectly legal — pitch that takes the opposite approach. The rare knuckleball hardly spins, making it more unpredictable for batters, catchers and pitchers. "For a knuckleball, which is barely spinning if at all, it's the seams that cause the movement," Nathan said. "When the air flows over the seams, it disrupts the flow of air." Unlike the predictable Magnus effect, rough seams and no spin mean the ball behaves erratically, jumping first right, then left at the last moment. The pitch can be fickle, leading some pitchers to fame while pulling others off the mound.
The Toronto Blue Jays' R.A. Dickey is the only active knuckleballer currently in the major leagues. Eddie Gamboa of the Orioles is on their 40-man roster, but not in the lineup. Brewers rookie pitcher Taylor Jungmann said that you have to respect the guys who can throw the bizarre pitch. "It's tough to get it to move," he said in the Brewers clubhouse. Based not on speed but on unpredictability, the knuckleball is thrown slower than other pitches. Some knuckleballers have pitched late into their 40s because the throw is less stressful on their arm. But that leaves pitchers vulnerable if they have not mastered the pitch. "If you don't throw a knuckleball right, all it is is a 70 mph fastball," Fingers said.
'Foreign substance' Most pitchers who break rule 8.02 use a sticky substance like rosin or pine tar when the cold makes the baseball slick. Many managers, pitchers and even hitters would prefer that Major League Baseball update the rules to reflect the reality in the park that many, if not most, pitchers will push their luck for a better grip.
But 8.02 was put in place to prevent an altogether different problem: the spitball. "Squeeze a grape and the grape will pop out of the skin," said Fingers. "That's like throwing a spitball." Pitchers who attempt the illegal pitch will typically add a small amount of Vaseline or grease to their fingers. "The lubrication between your fingers and the surface of a ball tends to inhibit the spin of the ball," Nathan said. A fastball with less backspin — less lift — will sink faster than the batter expects, causing him to swing too high.
There have been many suspected spitballers since the pitch's final retirement in 1934. Gaylord Perry is the most famous, even having written an autobiography titled "Me and the Spitter" while still an active pitcher. His confessions were vague, but his reputation was real. Bruce Froemming, MLB's longest-serving umpire and a Milwaukee native, remembers having to keep Perry in check when he called balls and strikes at the Giants' park in San Francisco. "He came up to bat in the bottom of the second inning and it is cold, I mean it is really cold with the wind off that bay," said Froemming in a phone interview. "And his head is soaking wet. And when he steps into the batter's box I say, 'Hey, warm night, right Gaylord?'" "Gaylord was accused of putting stuff on balls, whether it was water or whatever," Froemming said. "We wouldn't let him go to the mound in that condition." Perry was ejected for doctoring the ball only once, in 1982, one year before his retirement.
With constant high-resolution surveillance of pitchers from multiple angles, the spitball is much harder to pull off today. But the ejection of Smith and Orioles pitcher Matusz for the same offense this spring shows that umpires remain vigilant in enforcing rule 8.02, trying to keep the notorious pitch off the mound and squarely in baseball lore.
By Eric Hamilton of the Journal Sentinel
Aug. 15, 2015 4:18 p.m.
Brewers relief pitcher Will Smith joined a select club this spring — pitchers ejected for using a foreign substance on the mound. He was only the fourth pitcher in 10 years suspended for the offense, joined later the same week by the Orioles' Brian Matusz. Those rare ejections are calling attention to a little-enforced rule designed to prevent, as section 8.02(6) of the baseball rule book says, "what is called the shine ball, spit ball, mud ball or emery ball."
The spitball — equally infamous and mysterious in the annals of baseball — allows pitchers who master it an advantage on the mound. Every scuff, cut, or glob of Vaseline, every topspin curveball and wobbling knuckleball: each alters the physical forces that control the ball's fate to fool the batter. From legal pitches to illegal "foreign substances" and natural scuff marks, pitchers win or lose based on their ability to rule the baseball's 60-foot flight path from pitching rubber to home plate principally by controlling one crucial condition: spin.
For example, a fastball with backspin opposes gravity. "One way to think about this is that the ball is pushing the air downward," said Alan Nathan, a retired particle physicist and expert on the physics of baseball at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. As it pushes the air down, the backspinning baseball gains lift, like an airplane wing as air passes over it. Viewed from home plate, the ball will curve in the direction it spins — backspin creates lift; topspin causes the ball to sink; sidespin pushes the ball laterally. This is called the Magnus effect, and to a large degree it separates a fastball from a curveball. Anything that changes how a ball spins, especially in an unexpected way, can help the pitcher stay on top of the batter.
A ground ball to second and throw to first gets a 4-3 out and the baseball comes back to the mound with a small scuff mark on one side from the dirt. Sometimes, that's all it takes to throw a new pitch. "If I had a scuffed ball I wasn't about to throw it out because I could make it do certain things," said Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers, who pitched for the Brewers from 1981 to 1985, in a phone interview. "If you hold the scuff on the right side, the ball will go left," he said. "You put it on top and maybe a little sidearm, the ball will sink. "It's aerodynamics, is what it is."
But in most baseball games today, balls sometimes only last one pitch — rarely a whole inning — before getting thrown out. Scuffs, marks and cuts cannot accumulate over time and make each ball unique. "It's kind of tough to keep a scuffed ball or a cut ball in the game anymore," Fingers said.
Without these natural advantages, pitchers are left to their own devices on the mound. The unpredictable knuckleball While a fastballer wants as much backspin as possible and a curveball needs topspin to sink, there is one tricky — though perfectly legal — pitch that takes the opposite approach. The rare knuckleball hardly spins, making it more unpredictable for batters, catchers and pitchers. "For a knuckleball, which is barely spinning if at all, it's the seams that cause the movement," Nathan said. "When the air flows over the seams, it disrupts the flow of air." Unlike the predictable Magnus effect, rough seams and no spin mean the ball behaves erratically, jumping first right, then left at the last moment. The pitch can be fickle, leading some pitchers to fame while pulling others off the mound.
The Toronto Blue Jays' R.A. Dickey is the only active knuckleballer currently in the major leagues. Eddie Gamboa of the Orioles is on their 40-man roster, but not in the lineup. Brewers rookie pitcher Taylor Jungmann said that you have to respect the guys who can throw the bizarre pitch. "It's tough to get it to move," he said in the Brewers clubhouse. Based not on speed but on unpredictability, the knuckleball is thrown slower than other pitches. Some knuckleballers have pitched late into their 40s because the throw is less stressful on their arm. But that leaves pitchers vulnerable if they have not mastered the pitch. "If you don't throw a knuckleball right, all it is is a 70 mph fastball," Fingers said.
'Foreign substance' Most pitchers who break rule 8.02 use a sticky substance like rosin or pine tar when the cold makes the baseball slick. Many managers, pitchers and even hitters would prefer that Major League Baseball update the rules to reflect the reality in the park that many, if not most, pitchers will push their luck for a better grip.
But 8.02 was put in place to prevent an altogether different problem: the spitball. "Squeeze a grape and the grape will pop out of the skin," said Fingers. "That's like throwing a spitball." Pitchers who attempt the illegal pitch will typically add a small amount of Vaseline or grease to their fingers. "The lubrication between your fingers and the surface of a ball tends to inhibit the spin of the ball," Nathan said. A fastball with less backspin — less lift — will sink faster than the batter expects, causing him to swing too high.
There have been many suspected spitballers since the pitch's final retirement in 1934. Gaylord Perry is the most famous, even having written an autobiography titled "Me and the Spitter" while still an active pitcher. His confessions were vague, but his reputation was real. Bruce Froemming, MLB's longest-serving umpire and a Milwaukee native, remembers having to keep Perry in check when he called balls and strikes at the Giants' park in San Francisco. "He came up to bat in the bottom of the second inning and it is cold, I mean it is really cold with the wind off that bay," said Froemming in a phone interview. "And his head is soaking wet. And when he steps into the batter's box I say, 'Hey, warm night, right Gaylord?'" "Gaylord was accused of putting stuff on balls, whether it was water or whatever," Froemming said. "We wouldn't let him go to the mound in that condition." Perry was ejected for doctoring the ball only once, in 1982, one year before his retirement.
With constant high-resolution surveillance of pitchers from multiple angles, the spitball is much harder to pull off today. But the ejection of Smith and Orioles pitcher Matusz for the same offense this spring shows that umpires remain vigilant in enforcing rule 8.02, trying to keep the notorious pitch off the mound and squarely in baseball lore.
