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How To Throw An Eephus Pitch

Written By Sunday, January 1, 2023 Add Comment Edit

Very low-speed baseball pitch

An eephus pitch (as well spelled ephus) in baseball is a very high-arcing off-speed pitch.[1] The delivery from the pitcher has very low velocity and ofttimes catches the hitter off-guard. The eephus pitch is thrown overhand like near pitches, merely is characterized by an unusual, loftier-arcing trajectory.[ii] [3] The respective tiresome velocity bears more resemblance to a deadening-pitch softball commitment than to a traditional baseball pitch. It is considered a fob pitch because, in comparison to normal baseball pitches, which run from seventy to 100 miles per hr (110 to 160 km/h), an eephus pitch appears to move in slow motion at 55 mph (89 km/h) or less, sometimes as low as 35 mph (56 km/h).

Its invention is attributed to Rip Sewell of the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1940s, although according to historians John Thorn and John Holway, the showtime pitcher to throw a big boner pitch was Bill Phillips, who played in the National League on and off from 1890 through 1903. The practise then lay dormant for nearly 40 years until Sewell resurrected it.[4] According to managing director Frankie Frisch, the pitch was named by outfielder Maurice Van Robays. When asked what it meant, Van Robays replied, "'Eephus own't nothing, and that's a nothing pitch." Although the origin is not known for certain, "eephus" may come up from the Hebrew word אפס‎ (pronounced EF-ess), meaning "zero".[5]

Development and use in Major League Baseball game [edit]

Sewell's earliest recorded use of the pitch came in a game against the Boston Braves at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh on June 1, 1943,[6] [7] although as early every bit the spring grooming flavour of 1942 Sewell may take been experimenting with the pitch.[7] Sewell went on to win 20 games with the pitch in 1943.[viii]

Afterwards actualization in over 300 major-league games, Rip Sewell gave up only 1 career home run off the eephus, to Ted Williams in the 1946 MLB All-Star Game. Williams challenged Sewell to throw the eephus. Sewell obliged, and Williams fouled off the pitch. However, Sewell so appear that he was going to throw the pitch again, and Williams clobbered it for a dwelling run.[nine] [ten] When describing the mechanics of the pitch and why he was able to succeed where others had failed, Williams remarked "A little daughter could hit that pitch, but you lot had to provide all the power yourself."[xi] Years later, however, Williams admitted that he had been running towards the bullpen'south mound as he hitting the brawl, and photographs reveal that he was in fact a few feet in forepart of the batter'due south box when he fabricated contact.[2] [12] Since under Rule 6.06(a) of the Official Baseball Rules, a batter is out for illegal action when he hits a ball with one or both feet on the ground entirely exterior the concoction's box, Williams could have been ruled out had it been spotted by the habitation plate umpire.

Bill "Spaceman" Lee threw an eephus referred to equally the "Leephus", "spaceball" or "moon ball".[13] Pitching for the Boston Red Sox in Game 7 of the 1975 Earth Series, the Red Sox were up iii–0 when, on a i–0 count, Lee threw an eephus pitch to Tony Pérez with a runner on base.[fourteen] The pitch resulted in a towering ii-run abode run over the Green Monster that Lee oftentimes said afterward "is nevertheless rising".[15] The Red Sox went on to lose the game, iv–three, costing them the chance for their first World Series championship since 1918.[five]

Utility thespian Brock Holt used a few eephus pitches during a relief appearance for the Texas Rangers on August 7, 2021, one registering the slowest MLB pitch for a called strike since at least 2008 (the pitch-tracking era) at 31.1 miles per hr (l.1 km/h).[16]

Other pitchers known to have employed the eephus pitch include: Fernando Abad (the "super changeup"),[17] Al McBean (the McBean ball),[18] [xix] Luis Tiant, Pedro Borbón,[xx] Yu Darvish,[21] [22] Casey Fossum (called the "Fossum Flip"),[23] Steve Hamilton (the folly floater),[24] Liván Hernández, Phil Niekro,[25] Orlando Hernández, Dave LaRoche (LaLob), Carlos Zambrano, Vicente Padilla (dubbed the "soap bubble" by Vin Scully),[xx] [26] Satchel Paige,[27] Pascual Pérez (the Pascual Pitch), Kazuhito Tadano,[28] Bob Tewksbury,[29] Carlos Villanueva,[30] Alfredo Simón,[31] Clayton Kershaw,[32] [a] Rich Colina,[33] Zack Greinke and unique wind-factory windup 1930s to 1950s bullpen Bobo Newsom.

Other nicknames for the eephus pitch include the airship ball, blooper ball, gondola, parachute, rainbow pitch—distinct from the rainbow curve[3]—gravity curve, The Monty Brewster (a reference to the titular character in Brewster'south Millions), and the Bugs Bunny curve, a reference to the 1946 Bugs Bunny cartoon Baseball Bugs in which several batters in a row swing and miss at a very slow pitch before the brawl reaches the plate.

The eephus is sometimes used equally part of a "slow 'em downward then heat 'em upwards" strategy. On 20 September 2022, Philadelphia Phillies position histrion Garrett Stubbs, on a rare pitching consignment, used a series of four eephus pitches to put Toronto Blue Jays catcher Danny Jansen behind in the count. The last Stubbs eephus registered 36.9 mph and his adjacent pitch was an 83.eight mph fastball which earned a strikeout against the unready Jansen.[34]

Notes [edit]

  1. ^ Kershaw later said the pitch was non what he had intended to throw.[32]

References [edit]

  1. ^ The New Dickson Baseball game Dictionary. Harvest Books. January 1999. p. 284. ISBN0-xv-600580-eight . Retrieved January 21, 2009.
  2. ^ a b John Donovan (April sixteen, 2004). "'LaLob' it in". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on 2004-09-26. Retrieved Baronial 15, 2012.
  3. ^ a b Paul Dickson (13 June 2011). The Dickson Baseball Dictionary. W. W. Norton & Visitor. pp. 287–288, 686. ISBN978-0-393-34008-2 . Retrieved August 15, 2012.
  4. ^ Keri, Jonah (xx May 2015). "Eephus Influence: Tracing the Lineage of the Blooping Curve From the Late 19th Century to Today".
  5. ^ a b Paul Jackson (July 17, 2008). "The something pitch". ESPN. Retrieved January 16, 2009.
  6. ^ Morris, P. (2006). A Game of Inches: The Stories Behind the Innovations That Shaped Baseball: The Game on the Field . Ivan R. Dee. p. 124. ISBN978-one-56663-954-5 . Retrieved December 12, 2014.
  7. ^ a b "The Green Weenie: June 1 Bucco History: The Eephus & Bob Veale's 16 K Night". oldbucs.blogspot.com. Retrieved Dec 12, 2014.
  8. ^ "Baseball History in 1943 National League by Baseball Almanac". baseball-annual.com. Retrieved December 12, 2014.
  9. ^ Virginia Hanley (July ii, 1999). "Ted Williams and the Eephus Pitch". The Melrose Mirror. SilverStringers. Retrieved January 16, 2009.
  10. ^ "Rip Sewell, 'Eephus Ball' Pitcher For Pittsburgh Pirates, Dies at 82". New York Times. September 5, 1989. Retrieved Jan 16, 2009.
  11. ^ Plimpton, George. "Greatest Sports legends (Se i, Ep viii)". IMDB. ESPN. Retrieved 12 June 2016.
  12. ^ John Shea (2007-06-30). "The Twenty-four hour period Rip Got Ripped past Ted". San Francisco Chronicle . Retrieved June xxx, 2007.
  13. ^ Kirkpatrick, Curry (August vii, 1978), "In An Orbit All His Own", Sports Illustrated, ISSN 0038-822X, archived from the original on November 2, 2012, retrieved Baronial nine, 2012
  14. ^ "October 22, 1975 Earth Series Game 7, Reds at Red Sox". Baseball game-Reference.com. 1975-10-22. Retrieved 2016-03-14 .
  15. ^ "Neb Lee – Society for American Baseball Enquiry". sabr.org.
  16. ^ delos Santos, Justice (August 7, 2021). "This is what a 31 mph pitch looks like". MLB.com . Retrieved August 8, 2021.
  17. ^ Kelly, Matt (Baronial 17, 2017). "'What is that?' Abad's changeup baffles hitters". MLB.com. Archived from the original on Baronial 17, 2017. Retrieved October 10, 2022.
  18. ^ Costello, Rory (July 2015). "Al McBean". Baseball Biography Project. Guild for American Baseball Research. Archived from the original on July 22, 2022. Retrieved October 10, 2022. maybe his most memorable functioning on July 28. In a vii-1 victory, McBean hitting a grand slam, and in the 9th, he threw at to the lowest degree a half-dozen boner pitches and earned his complete game when Orlando Cepeda bounced a blooper to shortstop José Pagán for the concluding out.
  19. ^ Monagan, Matt (January 5, 2022). "The long, weird history of the eephus pitch". MLB.com. Archived from the original on September 7, 2022. Retrieved October 10, 2022.
  20. ^ a b Gurnick, Ken (August 9, 2010). "Padilla'southward 'Lather Chimera' baffling hitters". MLB.com. MLB Avant-garde Media. Archived from the original on July nine, 2017. Retrieved October 10, 2022.
  21. ^ Townsend, Mark (May 18, 2014). "Yu Darvish strikes out Adam Lind with 63 mph eephus pitch". Big League Stew. Yahoo Sports. Archived from the original on Feb 11, 2015. Retrieved October 10, 2022.
  22. ^ Miller, Bryce (March 31, 2022). "Padres pitching scientist Yu Darvish baffles fellow starters: 'That's just Yu'". The San Diego Wedlock-Tribune. Archived from the original on May 11, 2022. Retrieved October x, 2022.
  23. ^ Pingle, Brad (July 31, 2005). "Notes: Fossum introduces new quirk". MLB.com. Archived from the original on February 25, 2012. Retrieved Oct 10, 2022.
  24. ^ Litsky, Frank (Dec iv, 1997). "Steve Hamilton, 62, 'Floater' Bullpen for Yankees". New York Times.
  25. ^ "Sox bats knuckle nether". Chicago Tribune. July 10, 1986.
  26. ^ Jackson, Tony (July 7, 2010). "Masterful on the mound". ESPNLosAngeles.com. ESPN Net Ventures. Archived from the original on August 2, 2021. Retrieved October 10, 2022.
  27. ^ James, Neb; Neyer, Rob (2004). The Neyer/James guide to pitchers: an historical compendium of pitching, pitchers, and pitches . New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 333–37. ISBN978-0-7432-6158-half-dozen.
  28. ^ Bob Hohler (May five, 2004). "Despite dramatics in ninth, Ruby Sox lose 5th straight". The Boston Globe . Retrieved January 23, 2009.
  29. ^ AP (28 June 1998). "Speed bump: Tewksbury slows down McGwire with 44 mph lobs". CNN/SI. Archived from the original on 2013-12-21. Retrieved Baronial 5, 2012.
  30. ^ Brown, David (August 23, 2013). "Carlos Villanueva'south 57-mph Eephus pitch vexes Jayson Werth". Yahoo Sports. Retrieved August 24, 2013.
  31. ^ Fenech, Anthony (March v, 2015). "Tigers' Simon adds sixth pitch, a 56-m.p.h. Eephus split up". Detroit Free Press . Retrieved March five, 2015.
  32. ^ a b Clair, Michael (Apr 21, 2016). "Scout Clayton Kershaw unveil his newest pitch: the Eephus". MLB.com . Retrieved Apr 21, 2016.
  33. ^ Rymer, Zachary D. (June 2, 2016). "How 36-Twelvemonth-Old MLB Journeyman Rich Colina Has Go a Potential All-Star". Bleacher Report . Retrieved Baronial 24, 2016.
  34. ^ "This catcher got sneaky subsequently throwing an eephus". MLB.com.

Further reading [edit]

  • A brief history of the eephus pitch from "Bats", The New York Times baseball game weblog

External links [edit]

  • How to Throw an Eephus Pitch at YouTube
  • 1946 ASG: Ted Williams homers off Sewell's eephus pitch at YouTube
  • 1975 WS Gm7: Perez crushes a two-run blast to left at YouTube

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eephus_pitch

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