History 101 - The Spitball

The spitball originated at the end of the 19^th century. There are a couple of possible origins and a couple of possible inventors, but at this point the title has not been assigned to anyone and may actually have a number of players who may have contributed to the creation of the pitch. The two most widely credited inventors were Elmer Stricklett (1876-1964) and Frank Corridan (1880-1941).

The most successful spit ball pitchers were Hall of Famers, Ed Walsh and Jack Chesboro. Walsh was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946 based on his 14 year career (1904-1917). He played his entire MLB career for the Chicago White Sox except for the 1917 season and compiled a 195-126 win-loss record. His career ERA was 1.82, the lowest career mark for any pitcher. Baseball-reference.com has computed current stats for all players and Ed Walsh had an ERA+ of 146, a FIP of 2.02 (also lowest of any pitcher), a WHIP of exactly 1.00, had 1.9 BB/9, and 5.3 K/9. Chesboro, ironically, was also inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1946. Chesbro’s career would last 11 years (1899-1909). He played 4 years for the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6 ½ years with the New York Highlanders (Yankees) and half a year with the Boston Red Sox. He compiled a 198-143 win-loss record with a career ERA of 2.68. He had an ERA+ of 110, a FIP of 2.67, a WHIP of 1.152, 2.1 BB/9 and 3.9 K/9.

Chesbro did have one really great season. In 1904 with the Highlanders he had 41 wins and 12 losses. The 41 wins is the most ever by a pitcher since the American and National League consolidated in 1901. He had an ERA of 1.82, an ERA+ of 148, and a WHIP of 0.937. The most amazing stat though is that he pitched 454.2 innings that season, almost 9 innings per start and he completed 48 of the 51 games he started.

Elmer Stricklett was credited with teaching the pitch to both Walsh and Chesboro. Stricklett was called up from the minors by the White Sox in 1904 and would pitch in only one game that season. He pitched 6 innings and gave up 12 hits and 10 runs. But more noteworthy was that he would room with Ed Walsh. Stricklett would spend 3 more seasons in the major leagues with the Brooklyn Superbas in the National League.

Because of Walsh and Chesboro’s success with the pitch, other pitchers started throwing it.

This pitch and other trick pitches of the time led to discussions that the pitch should be outlawed.

There were concerns of player safety as pitchers became more and more creative in doctoring the ball. At that time there was no rule against applying a foreign substance to the baseball. In fact, there were pitchers who would cover the entire ball with tobacco juice. Not only would this juice affect the flight of the ball, but it created a danger since the brown tobacco juice would make the ball darker and more difficult for the batter to see.

The safety concern turned into fruition when in 1920 Ray Chapman became to only player in the history of baseball to die as a result of a baseball related injury. Chapman was struck in the temple by a pitch thrown by Red Sox pitcher Carl Mays, who was widely known to throw a spitball.

As a result of Chapman’s death, baseball managers voted to ban the spitball. The rule did not ban the use of the pitch entirely but allowed each team to designate up to two pitchers who could throw the spitball.

After the 1920 season teams were no longer able to designate 2 pitchers on their staff, but rather they determined that there were 17 pitchers who threw the spitball often and those 17 would be allowed to throw the pitch throughout the remainder of their careers. The most famous of these 17 pitchers were: Dutch Leonard, Hall of Famer Stan Coveleski, Urban Shocker, Hall of Famer Urban “Red” Faber, and the last pitcher to legally throw the pitch, Hall of Famer, Burleigh Grimes, who retired in 1934.

Of course after 1934 there were pitchers who did throw the spitter but most of the time it was undetected. Bobo Newsom threw a spitter in 1942 and his manager, Leo Durocher fined him for throwing the pitch and “lying to me about it”.

There were other pitchers who were believed to throw the spitter. Preacher Roe, who pitched for the Dodgers in the 1950’s was believed to throw the pitch and acknowledged it after his retirement with an article in Sports Illustrated titled “The Outlawed Spitball was My Money Pitch”. Both Don Drysdale and Lew Burdette were also believed to throw the pitch. The most famous recent pitcher to throw the pitch was Gaylord Perry.

How Do You Throw a Spit Ball?

With a spit ball the pitcher applies either saliva to the ball or another slippery substance.   The actions of saliva or a slippery substance on the ball is meant to create random “erratic” movement that the batter (and catcher) cannot predict. The substance will take the round sphere and put extra weight on one portion of the ball causing movement and will also create a pitch with less rotation because of the slippery surface.

With umpires now paying more attention to pitchers going to their mouth there have been other substances substituted for saliva. Vaseline seems to be the most widely used substitute for saliva, but Crisco has also been used.

Don Drysdale, who has been accused of throwing the spit ball, would apply oil to the back of his hair to get the slippery result. Gaylord Perry, the king of the current spit ball pitchers, wrote in his autobiography “Me and the Spitter” that he would put vaseline on his zipper knowing no umpire would ever go to his groin area to check for a foreign substance.

There are countless other places where pitchers will hide a foreign substance. Pitchers will use their glove as a place to “store” the substance and rub the ball into their glove to transfer the substance to the ball. They will use the back of their knee to hide the substance, as well as behind their ears and neck. There probably are very few places that a pitcher has not used to deceive an umpire.

When throwing the spit ball, the pitcher will apply the foreign substance to the smooth part of the ball and then grip the ball on that surface. The pitch will be thrown with the same motion as a fast ball but since a pitcher is not using a seam, but rather a slippery surface, the ball will come in at a slower speed, like a change up, and will have an unexpected movement much like a knuckleball. And like the knuckleball, the ideal spit ball will have as little rotation as possible so that it can be more affected by wind currents.

To see more about where a pitcher may hide the substance or help to make sure they are not detected, watch this video with Bob Uecker and Bob Shaw as they talk about the spit ball and show footage of Gaylord Perry - https://youtu.be/FuP09m62sVs

Thank you to Mark Bailey for some of the information that I have used in this article. Mark’s complete article can be found at How To Throw A Spitball Pitch. Is It Legal? (baseballbible.net)