Silly rabbit! Tricks are for kids!
Feel free to elaborate 8)
One of my favorite scenes from a movie is in major league when the old veteran pitcher is explaining all the greasy stuff on his body… and the jalapenos for runny nose!
One hack I know of is when you are in the wind up, instead of stepping to the rubber, step 6 (or 12 if you are bold) inches in front of it so you are closer to home plate.
Well I may not be as saavy as some individuals on this board, I was fortunate enough to play with a couple of big leaguers on their rehab stints the past couple of years. Although I won’t name names, everyone that I did talk to used some sort of sticky substance, most noteably pine tar. Unlike Kenny Rogers, many of them found clever spots to put the tar. The best spot I heard was putting the tar on the belt, underneath the flaps holding the belt in place. Fairly clever…
Haha I use pine tar too… usually on cold days since my hands are very dry anyways. Rosin sucks and pine tar smells nice anyways.
The worst thing though is when it is really hot out and my hands are so sweaty that the ball is slippery. I can’t have enough rosin then.
well, let’s suppose you placed a certain substance called ky jelly on the back of your neck toward the glove hand side, and possibly on your glove hand wrist. when you straighten your cap or go into the glove you load up the pads of the middle and index fingers with the stuff being absolutely sure your thumb is dry. gripping a parrallel two seam fastball grabbing a seam underneath with the thumb, and the two fingers on top of the ball on the smooth part of the leather where the label is between the seams (do not catch a seam with the fingers. When you get to release you squirt the ball toward the plate. it tumbles forward squirting off the ends of the fingers and the thumb catches the seam underneath giving it topspin. it reacts like a good splitfinger which you say is the pitch you are throwing if asked and you’ve been watching schilling and the master splitfinger boys.
if they come to check you it’s hair gel and you can brush your wrist against your uni pants to get rid of the wrist stuff.
there are other ways to load up that i won’t share, but this makes a 75-low 80’s pitch really effective.
if you scuff a ball with 60 grit sandpaper in the same spot getting some “hair” on the leather and learn how to use it it will really have late movement at the end. the hair must spin at the end of the axis on the pitch and it will take off at the end. it takes lots of practice to get this one down. you can use the easton practice balls that have the channels cut in them to get the same effect for initial practice.
your coach can throw a scuffed ball in from the dugout during a game. if the other team doesn’t know how to use it or is not aware it is there, you’re good to go. can always claim it was a foul ball that hit a shingled roof or concrete.
but us old timer pitchers would never do this would we. you would be shocked if you knew the names of some of the guys who scuffed the ball and loaded it up.
ristar should have fun with this one. if jacobs21 finds out you’re doing this he’ll have his girlfriend shoot you (it hurts his arm).
but we would never cheat against a metal bat would we, if we didn’t have a mid 80’s fastball.
have fun with this one.
Ha thats a true split fingered fastball!
Can you try to explain the scuff one more?
Why would I care what he does?
the scuff must be on the end of the axis of rotation on the ball. if you throw a 2 seam fastball, it would be in the middle of the big horseshoe of the seams. if you throw a 4 seam it is on the label between the narrow part of the seams. you scratch it up about the size of a quarter. you have to do some experimenting. you must make the ball spin straight backwards to get it to work. you can draw a wide black line ith a marker tto make sure you are getting good backward rotation with the scuff at the very end of the rotation.
the ball will run hard to the side of the scuff. need a ground ball, run it in on the hands. need a k, run it away. if you throw it sidearm with the scuff on the bottom it will go straight down.
[quote=“dusty delso”]the scuff must be on the end of the axis of rotation on the ball. if you throw a 2 seam fastball, it would be in the middle of the big horseshoe of the seams. if you throw a 4 seam it is on the label between the narrow part of the seams. you scratch it up about the size of a quarter. you have to do some experimenting. you must make the ball spin straight backwards to get it to work. you can draw a wide black line ith a marker tto make sure you are getting good backward rotation with the scuff at the very end of the rotation.
the ball will run hard to the side of the scuff. need a ground ball, run it in on the hands. need a k, run it away. if you throw it sidearm with the scuff on the bottom it will go straight down.[/quote]
Hmm interesting
lol, Have your catcher some talk to you, secretly give him the ball, act like you’re throwing a pitch, have the catcher pounds his glove after you do so, the batter/ump will either catch you or think you are throwing gas.
Lol thats a fun one if you can trick the umpire :evil:
YES IT IS!
When it works this is the most hilarious pitch in the world, maybe even more so than the knuckler!
never heard of that before pustulio. that sounds like fun. may have to try it sometime.
I’m less familiar with this subject than some others here, but I did hear one thing from a guy who ought to know…
The best spot to put your goop, whatever it happens to be, is somewhere deep in the crotch area of your uniform, because there are few–if any–umpires who would be willing to inspect you there (at least in public…god help you if they order you into the restroom for a private inspection).
That’s a balk!
Really, it is - if you take the mound without the ball. And they catch you.
That’s a balk!
Really, it is - if you take the mound without the ball. And they catch you.[/quote]
That’s the point! If they don’t catch you, it is awesome!
“Awesome, if they don’t catch you…”
If the HP ump is not literally blind, and if he is actually watching the game as pitches are being thrown, there is no way this joke idea could work. Remember, Pustilio did use the ‘lol’ code…
Incidentally, while we’re all making up weird jokes here, I’ve sometimes wondered why hitters who are way behind in the count, in certain life-or-death game situations, don’t influence the catcher to miss catching the ball cleanly.
The batter has a 2 5/8" diameter bat that he could use–in sort of a fake bunting style-- to willfully obstruct the catcher’s vision until the ball was nearly at HP, then pull back (so as not to get a swinging strike call). If successful, he would obscure the catcher’s vision enough to prevent a clean catch–maybe generate a passed ball.
Somebody told me that the umpire can call that as an obstruction, though. And anyway, the next time up at bat the batter would probably get a FB in the neck for his shenanigans…
I would think that would be fairly difficult to do flip, and seemingly risking alot with the game on the line. Possibly even missing a good pitch to drive in the runs.
Not a bad thought though.
“Not a bad thought…”
Nah, more like the random wanderings of a diseased mind…
I was thinking that it technically would be pretty easy to get deep in the batter’s box, position the barrel more-or-less in front of the catcher’s eyes, and sort of gently sweep up and down across his field of vision until the crucial moment came to pull back…that’s when someone mentioned the HP ump’s role in judging obstructions of that sort, and the pitcher’s likely response to getting juked around in that fashion.
Yeah your right, the beautiful thing about the game of baseball is things usually correct themselves. Nothing one pitch in the earhole couldn’t fix!
that’s right, i’ve been doing stuffs like that since 7th grade. not that i like to cheat bu i LOVE to have fun and do stuffs like that is something fun for me.one thing i did to scuff the ball (by the way dusty is right on how to scuff a ball) i took the pin that keeps the button on top of the cap and put it throught my cap on my pitching arm side, when i replaced my cap i would just keep the ball in my hand and scuff it while playing with my visor. never been caught.
on a hot day i once applied shaving cream on my glove arm and when i sweat i would become slippy. you put some of that slippy substance on your fingers and throw a straight fastball. the spin is reduce and it goes straight down.
i have other stuffs i might write them on here sometime.