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Posted By: runscott

In the spring of '67 the baseball "convention" made a ruling that the pitcher could no longer bend his elbow during delivery. Cummings was one of the few pitchers to adapt quickly and continue to throw curves, despite the new limitation. Until 1893, the distance from the mound to home plate was only 55 feet, so throwing underhand with a stiff arm wasn't as much of a disadvantage as you might think. I'm not sure when pitchers started delivering overhand pitches - 1893 maybe?