Curveball
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- For the CIA informant, see Curveball (informant).
The curveball is a type of breaking ball in baseball thrown with a grip and hand movement that imparts top spin to the ball. This causes it to "break," that is, to fly in a more exaggerated curve than would be expected.
To properly throw a curveball, the pitcher cocks the wrist inward so that upon release the ball rolls forward over his index finger, creating the desired spin. The Magnus effect then produces a downward force on the ball; this combines with the force of gravity to make the ball curve down. It is a common misconception that throwing a curveball requires a wrist snapping motion during the release of the ball. It has been suggested that throwing curveballs can be dangerous for the elbow, but there are no differences in the motions of the shoulder and elbow joints between a fastball and a curveball[1].
The direction of the break depends on the axis of spin of the ball. There are several different types of curveballs which break differently and move at different speeds. The two most popular are the "12-6" ("dropball" or "drop curve") and the standard power curve. The 12-6 is a slower curveball with a steeper break on the ball, whereas the power curve is thrown much harder and has a later, less pronounced break, down and away from the throwing arm. Both curveballs are effective when used by pitchers who utilize different styles of pitching.
Ideally, a curveball breaks just as it reaches the plate, causing the batter to swing above it. A curveball that fails to break soon enough is called a "hanging curve" and is much easier to hit. Also, batters anticipating a curveball may try to move forward (closer to the pitcher) in the batter's box to hit the ball before it breaks, or, put differently, before the downward angle becomes too great. There is actually no specific point where a ball breaks, but the deviation from a fastball trajectory becomes progressively greater as the ball approaches the plate.
The pitch is slower than a fastball, and this difference in speed also tends to disrupt the hitter's timing. A "slow curve" is a curveball that is thrown in the low 70 MPH velocity range and resembles a changeup that is thrown at a similar speed. The slow curve is commonly thrown after a fastball, or when the pitcher has two strikes and no balls on a batter.
A right handed pitcher throwing a curveball is toughest on a right-handed batter, as the pitch will tend to break down and away from the batter, as opposed to inside on his hands (that's what would happen if the right handed pitcher threw a curve to a left handed batter). Most batters prefer pitches waist high and in the middle, instead of down and away, which allows managers to exploit matchups.
For some reason, left-handed pitchers seem more inclined to throw curveballs. This is evidenced by the number of left-handed pitchers who throw high-looping, lower-velocity curveballs[citation needed]. It is speculated that left-handers have better natural pitching mechanics that are more conducive to being able to make the curveball spin.[citation needed] A curveball from a left-handed pitcher will tail away from a left-handed hitter, giving the lefty pitcher a slight advantage over a lefty hitter more used to the favorable mechanics of a right-hander's curve. This is one of the reasons why the defensive manager prefers homogeneity of handedness in pitcher/batter match-ups, particularly lefty vs. lefty[citation needed].
A popular nickname for a curveball is the "deuce," referencing the fact that this is commonly the No. 2 pitch in a pitcher's repertoire[citation needed].
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[edit] History
Baseball lore has it that the curveball was invented in the late 19th Century by either Candy Cummings 1 or Fred Goldsmith. An early demonstration of the "skewball" or curveball occurred at the Capitoline Grounds in Brooklyn in August of 1870 by Fred Goldsmith. In 1884, St. Nicholas, a children's magazine, featured a story entitled, "How Science Won the Game." It told of how a boy pitcher mastered the curve ball to defeat the opposing batters.
In the early years of the sport, use of the curveball was thought to be dishonest and was outlawed, but officials could not do much to stop pitchers from using it. Sandy Koufax, who used his curveball to strike out 2,396 batters in 2,324.3 career innings (including a then modern-day record 382 in 1965), is considered to have had the best curveball in baseball history[citation needed]. Bert Blyleven was said to have had the best curveball of any modern pitcher[citation needed].
[edit] References
- ^ Youlian Hong (2002). International Research in Sports Biomechanics. Routledge (UK).
[edit] External links
- Version 1: Candy Cummings was the inventor of the curveball
- Version 2: Fred Goldsmith: co-inventor of the curveball or pitcher who gave first recorded demonstration of the curveball?
- How to Curve a Wiffle Ball
