Gyroball

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For the gyroscopic toy Powerball, see Powerball.

Gyroball - the name given to a unique baseball pitch purported to be used by players in Japan. The pitch was developed by a Japanese scientist, Ryutaro Himeno, and a baseball instructor, Kazushi Tezuka, who used computer simulations to create a new style of delivery intended to reduce stress on the pitcher. They published their work in a scroll, currently available only in Japan, whose title is roughly translated as, The Secret of the Miracle Pitch.

There has been some confusion regarding the nature and even existence of the gyroball. The creator of the pitch claims that it has been misunderstood.

The Secret of the Miracle Pitch, the book written about the gyroball by Ryutaro Himeno and Kazushi Tezuka.

According to Himeno and Tezuka, a gyroball is thrown so that, at the point of release, instead of having the pitcher's arm move inwards towards the body (the standard method used in the United States), the pitcher rotates his arm so that it moves away from his body, toward 3rd base for a right-handed pitcher and toward 1st base for a left-handed pitcher.

However, the technique to throwing the gyroball is all in the legs, not in the unique grip of the baseball. Kazushi Tezuka is an instructor at the Beta Endorphin baseball dojo in Tokyo, Japan. "This," says Tezuka, as he grabs his thigh, "is the most important part of throwing the gyroball. It has nothing to do with the hands."^[1]

The unusual method of delivery creates a bullet-like spin on the ball, like a bicycle tire spins when facing the spokes or a perfectly thrown football. According to Tezuka, the pitch, if thrown correctly, is meant to fly straight like a fastball. In baseball, most pitches are thrown with backspin, like the fastball, or with a more forward spinning motion, like the curveball and the slider.

Batters use the arm speed of the pitcher and the spin on a baseball, highlighted by the seams, to judge the speed and movement of the ball. The gyroball is thrown with the arm speed of a fastball but goes slightly slower, and since it has a bullet-like spinning motion, on occasion (when the seams are hidden from view of the batter) it will make experienced batters swing wildly at the ball.

The gyroball is also often confused with a completely different Japanese pitch called the shuuto, due to an error in a well-known article by baseball writer Will Carroll^[2]. Although Carroll later corrected himself, the confusion still persists.

The gyroball appears in the popular manga and anime, MAJOR (anime).

In the game "MLB '07: The Show", only the player named Tate Baik (who is on the Red Sox roster and represents Daisuke Matsuzaka) has the ability to throw the gyroball.