1911 Obak card debunks story of inventor of the forkball

[brianp-beme]

On a variety of places on the internet Bullet Joe Bush is credited with inventing the forkball sometime after World War 1.

Funny thing is, I was checking 1911 Obak backs for another thread and came across the below Bert Hall of Tacoma card. In the writeup on the back, it mentions that "Hall is the only pitcher who has mastered the "fork ball", over which he has marvelous control", and then goes on to identify that he places the ball between his index and middle fingers (thus describing the grip that is identified with the forkball).

Funny thing, part 2, I then also found an article that was just published yesterday on the pinstripealley.com site that includes the following passage:

Former Red Sox and Yankees pitcher Leslie Ambrose “Bullet Joe” Bush often gets credited with the invention of the forkball, as he used the pitch to great effect in the years following the First World War, because injuries and arm fatigue prevented him from throwing a more traditional curveball. His claim, however, is a bit tenuous, even if nobody disputes the fact that he find success in the Major Leagues with it. In their 1987 book The Pitcher, John B. Holway and MLB official historian John Thorn instead credit Mike Lynch, a center fielder who played seven games for the Chicago Orphans in 1902. According to them, Lynch didn’t use it himself, but taught it to teammate Bert Hall, who played seven games for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1911.

The moral of the story is, sometimes you find out more than you were looking for on the back of a vintage card (in this case, the pitcher who perhaps helped develop a pitch still used today). And I thought it deserved its own thread.

Brian