Famous Spitballers - Show 'Em!!!

[familytoad]

Russ Ford was known to spit/scuff or shine the ball a bit...here are dual T205's

[sbfinley]

Tommy Bridges was often accused of throwing a spitball and on one occasion Yankee manager Joe McCarthy asked the head umpire to check the ball and see if it had been doctored. Tigers catcher Birdie Tibbetts proceeded to fire the ball in the outfield where all three outfielders handled it before the umpire was able to retrieve it. Needless to say, Bridges was never caught doctoring the ball.

Here's Bridges with Bridie and the boss.



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[triwak]

Nice thread!

[thescooper]

Whats a spitball?

[Bosox Blair]

Originally Posted by thescooper

Whats a spitball?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spitball

Cheers,
Blair

[thescooper]

TY

[prewarsports]

Since someone mentioned Jack Quinns hand, I figured I would show this photo pair of him pitching and him demonstrating his spitball grip.

Rhys

[David R]

Originally Posted by thescooper

Whats a spitball?

A spit ball is a lot like a splitfinger fastball in that it has forward rotation (normally a thrown ball rolls off the fingers with backward rotation) because it "slips" out of the index and middle fingers rather than rolling off of those fingers. The pitcher puts a slippery substance on his index and middle fingers and keeps the thumb dry. He then grips the ball with the slippery index and middle fingers on the flat part of the ball (not on a seam). The dry thumb is placed on a seam for better grip. He them snaps the wrist forward and down when he throws it and the top of the ball slips out of the index and middle finger giving the ball forward spin.

I used to be a pitcher in the Braves minor league system and Phil Niekro showed me how to throw it one year in Spring Training (although I don't think he ever really threw the pitch himself).

[ValKehl]

Allan Russell spent the first 8 of his 11 MLB seasons with losing teams (Yankees & Red Sox) before good fortune came his way and he finished his career with a winner, the Washington Senators (hey, Washington was not always "first in war, first in peace, and last in the A.L.")!! Mostly a relief pitcher in the latter part of his career, Russell led the A.L. in saves with 9 in 1923 (my, how times have changed!), had a 5 - 1 record in relief with 8 saves in 1924, and made one relief appearance in the 1924 World Series (pitched 3 innings in game 3), which was won by the Senators.
Val

[Jason Carota]

Almost forgot about Jimmy (Lavender):



Jimmy ended Rube Marquard's 19 game winning streak in 1912.