In Defense of the Spitter

Why it should return

In Defense of the Spitter

It’s been over a century now since the spitball was finally banned — and it’s been almost a century since anybody was legally allowed to throw it.

However, I believe the spitball should be allowed again — along with all of those other “freak deliveries” that people complained about so bitterly in the old days.

Here’s why I feel this way:

It’s not a magic pitch

The notoriety of the spitball overshadows its usefulness as an effective pitch.

The great spitball throwers — especially those who weren’t legally allowed to throw it — all understood this point. The spitball is an effective pitch because of the psychological advantage that it gives to the pitcher — and not because of any physical advantage of magic that happens when you throw it.

My understanding is that a well thrown spitball looks a lot like any other sinking fastball, except that the drop comes just a little bit closer to the end of the delivery. See this pitch from Gaylord Perry in 1982 as an example.

Now, I don’t know if that was actually a spitball, or if it was just a forkball or early split fingered fastball. Perry could throw the forkball as well as the spitball, which, of course, gave him a psychological advantage.

But, as you can clearly see, it’s not a magic pitch.

In fact — none of those “freak deliveries” were magic. They’re up there in the same category as the knuckleball. They are hard pitches to deliver effectively, but reward pitchers who take the time to properly learn how to throw them.

It’s not “unsanitary”

The old complaint about the spitball was that it was unsanitary and somehow uncivilized.

From The New York Times, October 31, 1919, page 14

Any actual master of the pitch will tell you that you don’t spit aimlessly at the ball or lick it or whatever. It’s the fingers of the pitching hand that you need to moisten, not the ball itself. To control the pitch, you’ve got to put in a lot of practice and know what the right amount of moisture is.

The worries about dirtied baseballs that came up after the death of Ray Chapman — who was killed in late 1920, after the spitball was banned, and by a fastball that rode up and in — have been eliminated from the game. Balls are rotated in and out so frequently that there’s simply no way to deliberately make it dirty.

The “sanitary” worry was an exaggeration in the first place. The spitball, the shine ball, and other odd deliveries are not barbaric. On the contrary: they are harder to master than normal pitches.

Not everybody threw one

There seems to be a general sentiment that the Deadball Era was dead because of the spitball.

Actually, the spitball wasn’t as common as you think. Ed Walsh threw one, sure — but Christy Mathewson didn’t, nor did Walter Johnson. Eddie Cicotte apparently threw a shine ball near the end of his career, though he was more a master of the knuckleball and knuckle curve than anything else.

Even back in 1908, when the deadball era was at its height, few pitchers used the pitch. The 1909 Spalding Guide contained a long section on the pitch, with snippets like this:

From The 1909 Spalding Guide To Base Ball, page 39

This estimate tracks with reality. For example, consider this article from the 1919 offseason, when the decision to ban the pitch was the talk of the sporting world (and not the recently thrown World Series):

Maybe 10% of pitchers at the time threw the pitch. It wasn’t used extensively, mostly because of how hard it was to control.

From The 1909 Spalding Guide To Base Ball, page 37

Pitchers will throw it anyway

The biggets problem with the ban, of course, is that pitchers will throw it anyway.

This requires you to understand that the true power of these “freak deliveries” is psychological. The threat of throwing a rare and banned pitch gives a pitcher known for using it a distinct advantage over the hitter.

Gaylord Perry only added to his power when he famously wrote a book on his use of the pitch while he was still an active player:

Perry, of course, didn’t need to throw the spitball at every delivery. He just needed the hitters to think about the spitball every time he wound up.

Interestingly, that was true in 1908 as well.

From The 1909 Spalding Guide To Base Ball, page 41

That’s why the ban is absolutely silly.

You can check pitchers for “foreign substances” every half inning, if you like. The truth, however, is that an effective spitball requires only a small amount of moisture on the fingers. This can come from excess sweat, hair gell, a carefully concealed dab of vaseline, or any number of specially created and odorless lubricants. The crushed banana works as well.

If these pitches were made legal, nothing would change. No pitcher would stand up there and lick the ball or spit in his glove. This is because pitching is the art of deception, not the art of overpowering the hitter.

That’s a lesson we need to learn these days, by the way. Too many pitchers focus solely on velocity and movement. Deception is the name of the game — and deception is the key to avoiding career threatening arm injuries.

There you have it. Bring back the spitter!