Eephus pitch
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In baseball, an eephus pitch is a "junk pitch" which has "nothing on it"—very little velocity and catches the hitter off-guard. Its invention is attributed to Rip Sewell of the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1930s. Sewell had been shot in the right foot--some sources say in World War II, some say in a hunting accident--and had to come up with a delivery that didn't rely on pivoting the foot. According to Pirates manager Frankie Frisch, the pitch was named by outfielder Maurice van Robays, who when asked what it meant replied, "Eephus ain't nothin'."
The Eephus is thrown overhand like most pitches, but is characterized by the unusual high arc of its trajectory and its corresponding slow velocity, bearing more resemblance to a slow-pitch softball delivery than to traditional baseball. It is considered a "trick" pitch because in comparison to normal baseball pitches (70 to 100 miles per hour), an Eephus pitch appears to move in slow motion. Hitters typically get very anxious, swing wildly, or ground out.
After appearing in over 300 major league games, Rip Sewell only gave up one career home run off the Eephus, to Ted Williams in the 1946 All-Star Game. Williams challenged Sewell to throw the Eephus. Sewell obliged, and Williams missed the pitch. However, Sewell then announced that he was going to throw the pitch again, and Williams clobbered it for a home run. Years later, Williams admitted that he had been running towards the pitch as he hit it, and photographs reveal that he was a few feet in front of the batter's box when he made contact (which would've resulted in an out if it was caught by the umpire).
Pitchers known to have employed the Eephus pitch include: Dave LaRoche, Bob Tewksbury, and Orlando Hernandez. Left-hander Bill Lee, known as "The Space Man", threw a variant of it he called the Space Ball, or, occasionally, the Leephus. In Game 7 of the 1975 World Series, Lee twice retired Tony Perez, a future Hall of Famer with the pitch. The third time he came up, Lee tried it again, but Perez hit a homer that won the game and the World Series. (There were reports that Perez hit it so hard that the Boston outfielders didn't even bother turning their heads to watch it fly.) The ever-philosophical Lee said after the game, "Live by the slow curve, die by the slow curve."
Steve Hamilton of the New York Yankees was known for throwing the folly floater. He also developed a pitch called the hesitation hummer. This pitch started with the classic slow delivery of the folly floater but then would be "hummed" in as a fastball. The hesitation hummer worked with the folly floater and Hamilton had modest success with the pitch. Fans at Yankee Stadium, during the mid to late 1960's, loved to see Hamilton work these novel pitches in his relief appearances.
Some nicknames for the Eephus include: LaLob, Folly Floater, Bloop Curve.
See also: List of pitches
External links
- The Baseball Page (http://www.thebaseballpage.com/features/2000/eephus.htm)