But some folks say that a good offense is also a good defense. In baseball a good defense is all in the pitching. If the defense is good enough, no one can score.
The Art of Pitching
Sandy Koufax once said, "The art of pitching is the art of instilling fear." Getting hit by a baseball hurts and it can do some damage. A good pitcher throws hard and fast. A baseball flying at 90 mph gets to the catcher in 0.4 seconds. That's a flaming fastball. A really good pitcher has mastered several good pitches. Let's look at a few:
The Fastball
The "four seamer" is the basic fastball. With his first and middle fingers half an inch apart across the horseshoe or the wide part of the seams, the pitcher curls his other fingers on the side and puts his thumb under the ball. On the release, he snaps his wrist straight down to put backspin on the ball. The burning ball seem to rise as it passes the batter, but this "rising" fastball is actually falling very slowly.
A "sinking" fastball is a "two seamer." The grip is different and this changes the ball's motion. The pitcher places his first and middle fingers on the two narrow seams and applies pressure to one or the other finger. This causes the two seam fastball to sink as it approaches home plate. If the pitcher holds the ball off-center, the ball takes another tack by appearing to sink laterally. This is called a "cutter" pitch.
The Curveball
"Candy" Cummings invented the curveball in 1867. A well thrown curveball can veer off a straight course by as much as 17 inches laterally as it approaches home plate. The ball travels in the direction of its spin either to the right or the left and it makes this motion in the last quarter of its trip from the pitcher to the batter. Since it takes the batter 0.20 seconds to swing the bat, a good batter must "read" the curve early enough to enable him to swing appropriately to meet the ball with the bat.
As the pitcher throws, he cocks his wrist and snaps it so that the back of his hand faces the catcher. As a result, the ball has topspin and some side spin. A right handed pitcher's wrist has a natural rotation which causes the ball to spin down and away from right handed batters and down and in on lefties.
The Screwball
This is a variation of the curveball. A pitcher throws a screwball by rotating their wrist inside out in a corkscrew motion so that the palm faces the catcher after the balls release. The ball breaks in the opposite way from a curveball. Mickey Mantle was supposed to have one of the best screwballs in baseball but he never threw the pitch in a game.
Change-Up
Part of the pitcher's skill involves disrupting the batter's timing. The batter is at the other end of the pitch and tries to be alert for any clues about what's coming at him next. But even if the pitcher can get a pitch off at 95 mph, a good batter can often anticipate the pitch.
However a change-up can throw a wrench in the works. It's a slow fastball--an off-speed pitch which lures the batter into swinging ahead of the ball's arrival at the plate. This pitch can make the batter react rather than anticipate, and that's just what a pitcher wants.
Slider
When a batter first sees a slider explode from the pitcher's hand, he may think it's a fastball. But it's a sneaky pitch. The ball will break late and with a sideways movement that throws the batter off. Usually when the batter connects, it results in a weak pop-up or a groundball.
Knuckleball
This is the most unpredictable pitch in baseball and few pitchers can master it. The ball veers, bobs and wobbles on its way to the plate. The pitcher pushes the ball of the tips of their index, middle and ring fingers, so that it has very little, if any spin. That's what allows air currents to affect the ball's trajectory. Even the pitcher can't predict how the ball will fly.
Charlie Lau, the famous hitting instructor for the Orioles, Oakland Athletics, Kansas City Royals, New York Yankees and the Chicago White Sox, once commented, "There are only two theories on hitting the knuckle ball. Unfortunately, neither of them works."
Fingernail Polish
In this macho game, there is one more point to be made, and that's about keeping the fingernails well manicured and the fingers slick for the pitch release. One good tip is to apply a coat of fingernail polish to the fingernails to keep them from breaking off or tearing. Do this especially on the index finger of your throwing hand so that the nail doesn't interfere with the pitch. Also apply a coat of polish to the sliding surface of your fingers and let it dry before the game. It will reduce friction and give the pitch a bit of added speed.
Source:
Watching Baseball Smarter: A Professional Fan's Guide for Beginners, Semi-experts, and Deeply Serious Geeks by Zack Hample; Vintage (March, 2007)
Diane Evans - I am a retired civil engineer as well as a member of Sisters in Crime and the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.
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