That Pitch Moved! — Baseball Bench Coach

My Dad was mild-mannered, except when it came to one of his passions, like baseball. I remember when I was a boy watching with him in our living room a Reds game against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Chicago had a one-run lead with two outs in the top of the ninth inning, but the Reds had their clutch hitter up, Tony Perez. On the mound for the Cubs was their ace reliever, Phil Regan. On a two-strike pitch, Perez swung and missed. Game over, yet my Dad jumped out of his sofa chair and yelled, “that pitch moved a foot!” The Reds had the same reaction on the television screen. It was the first time that I became aware of challenges concerning pitchers unfairly altering the movement of pitches, or “doctoring”.

About a week before the 2021 season MLB executive Mike Hill issued a curious memo to all team officials that MLB would be monitoring closely the use of foreign substances by pitchers. Hill proclaimed: “Examples of prohibited conduct include, but are not limited to, handling foreign substances, advising a pitcher how to use or otherwise mask the use of foreign substances, interfering with the collection of game-used baseballs and failing to report observed violations of these rules by players or staff.” “The Athletic” reported last week that the MLB collected several baseballs that Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer pitched in an April 8 outing against Oakland. Interestingly, Bauer in 2018 spoke out against Astros pitchers for appearing to use substances on their pitches. Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts quickly defended Bauer after “The Athletic” report came out, indicating that his ace was unfairly being singled out.

Phil Regan, nicknamed “The Vulure” by Sandy Koufax due to Regan’s propensity for late-inning relief heroics, probably felt he too was being singled out over 50 years ago. Regan was a top pitcher, mostly as a reliever, for 4 MLB clubs during a 13-year span (1960-1972). Indeed, in 1968 he won the “Sporting News” Reliever of the Year award for the second time. In an August game that same year against the Reds, umpire Chris Pelekoudas called several illegal pitches on Regan based on the unusual movement of the balls as they reached the plate. No illegal substances were found on the baseballs thrown by Regan. NL President Warren Giles met with Regan a few days later and absolved him of any wrongdoing. The incident though followed him, unfairly so, the rest of his pitching career. Regan is now the pitching coach of the Mets, and one of the best in the game.

Movement of the baseball is so essential to an MLB pitcher. Today’s new term is called “spin rate” (basically, the more you can make a pitch spin, the more easily its trajectory can be changed). The confrontation between a pitcher and a hitter in today’s game is a mental match of power pitching (95+ mph is the norm) vs. power hitting (swing velocity). It has become increasingly difficult for a starter to go through an opponent’s lineup more than two times and be effective. Batters are inclined to take pitchers deep into counts, see a lot of pitches, and run up pitch counts. It used to be a starting pitcher could set up hitters for at bats late in the game by not always showing the good stuff early – think Marichal, Gibson, and Jenkins. In today’s game, even a pitcher like Yu Darvish who reportedly has 11 pitches, 7 of them “primary ones”, can’t conquer the power mentality and go deep into games. MLB’s recent focus on pitched baseballs suggests that there is a concern pitchers may be resorting to doctoring baseballs to win the power struggle. MLB isn’t saying, and it’s just hard to know.

It isn’t hard to know what was Hall of Fame pitcher Gaylord Perry’s take on the matter. In his autobiography, “Me and the Spitter”, he admits putting Vaseline on baseballs. Perry’s lifetime numbers were outstanding – 314 wins, 3,534 strikeouts, and a 3.11 ERA. Perry was never bashful about putting something on the baseball. In fact, he used it as a mental edge over hitters, daring them to figure out when, how, and if he was doing it. Gene Tenace, a catcher for the Padres when Perry pitched in San Diego, recalled: “I can remember a couple of occasions when I couldn’t throw the ball back to him because it was so greasy that it slipped out of my hands. I just walked out to the mound and flipped the ball back to him.” Crazily, Perry was not ejected from a game for an illegal pitch until 1982, his 21st season in baseball.

Don Sutton, also a Hall of Famer, who passed earlier this year, had a reputation for doing something with the baseball. Like Perry, Sutton pitched in 23 MLB seasons and compiled an amazing career stat line – won 324 games, pitched 58 shutouts, and is seventh on the all-time strikeout list with 3,574. Unlike Perry, he didn’t throw “greaseballs”, but might have scuffed the baseballs from time to time. Reportedly, Reds manager Sparky Anderson used to have team personnel collect Sutton scuffed baseballs in a bucket. Yet, Sutton too was only “caught” once by an umpiring crew, in a game in 1978. The National League gave him a ten-game suspension that he appealed. The suspension was dropped after threats of litigation.

Another approach to moving the ball is by throwing a “knuckleball”, a legally pitched ball that a pitcher can grip in a couple of ways and is thrown with a stiff wrist. The goal is to actually minimize the spin of the ball in flight, causing erratic movement. The founder of the knuckleball was Hoyt Wilhelm, but the master was Atlanta Brave Hall of Famer Phil Niekro, “Knucksie”. Niekro’s record on the mound was sensational – 318 career wins; led the NL in victories two seasons; and five NL All-Star selections. He was also a great fielder, winning the NL Gold Glove five times. Noteworthy was his durability and longevity, mostly because the knuckleball was easy on his arm. 121 of his career victories were recorded after he reached age 40. When a manager gave Niekro the ball, he didn’t give it back often. He is the last MLB pitcher to win and lose 20 games in the same season. Sadly, he passed recently as well, in December 2020.

An American League hurler in that same era who also used the knuckleball as his #1 pitch was Wilbur Wood, who pitched in 17 MLB seasons and starred with the White Sox. Wood began his career as a starter relying on a fastball and curveball. Under the tutelage of Wilhelm, Wood’s career took off when he mastered the knuckler. In 1968 as a reliever for the White Sox he pitched in 88 of the team’s games. The early 1970s White Sox teams featured Wood in a starting role. He led the AL in games pitched from 1972 to 1975. In 1972 he started 49 games and pitched 376 innings, numbers that are unheard of in today’s game. Like Niekro, Wood won and lost 20 games in a season (1973). And probably Wood is most famous for starting both ends of a doubleheader in July 1973 against the Yankees, losing both starts. There is not a present day knuckleballer, although some believe that Orioles’ minor leaguer Mickey Jannis has promise.

During the summer of 1974 I convinced my parents to go to a Braves vs. Dodgers game in Atlanta on our trip home from Florida. I remember the night so well. Phil Niekro pitched a complete game in the Braves 4-3 win; he also had the game-winning RBI. We stayed at the Howard Johnson’s Motor Lodge next to the Atlanta ballpark. Post-game my family waited in a long line for my celebratory, two scoop orange sherbet cone. After receiving my treasure, I dropped it on the pavement no more than 50 feet from the front counter. All my Dad said was “there’s no way we are going to stand in that line again”. His passions apparently did not include ice cream.

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach