The Crooked Pitch : The Curveball in American Baseball History
Chapel Hill, NC, U.S.A.: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 1984. First edition. Small quarto, cloth, 194 pps. with index; profusely illustrated. The history of baseball's "great equalizer", the curve ball. From it's alleged invention by Arthur "Candy" Cummings, a Brooklyn player in the pre-professional era, the author traces the development and impact of breaking pitches (legal and illegal) on America's National Game. Herein we learn of the "honest" curves such as the screwball, knuckleball, slider, forkball, slip pitch, Satchel Paige's Hesitation Pitch and the eephus ball; but also we have the spitter, mud ball, shine ball, emery ball, phonograph-needle ball and other "dishonest" variants. You may not have thought of chewing slippery elm bark while on the mound but we guarantee that used correctly, it will make your balls drop. Fine in price clipped jacketwith a 1" closed tear bottom right front panel. Item #D502
Price: $12.50