fastballbaseball
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importance in pitching
( in baseball: The pitching repertoire )
...ball. Pitchers use changes of speed, control (the ability to pitch to specific points in the strike zone), and different grips that affect the flight of the pitch in order to confound batters. The fastball is the basis of pitching skill. Good fastball pitchers are capable of throwing the ball 100 miles (160 km) per hour, but simply being fast is not enough to guarantee success. A fastball...
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importance in pitching baseball
...ball. Pitchers use changes of speed, control (the ability to pitch to specific points in the strike zone), and different grips that affect the flight of the pitch in order to confound batters. The fastball is the basis of pitching skill. Good fastball pitchers are capable of throwing the ball 100 miles (160 km) per hour, but simply being fast is not enough to guarantee success. A fastball...
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pitching innovations baseball
In the 1970s relief pitcher Bruce Sutter introduced the split-fingered fastball, which broke downward at the plate in a motion often compared, with some exaggeration, to a ball rolling off a table.
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importance in pitching baseball
...as in on the batter or away from him. Fastball pitchers of note include Walter Johnson, Satchel Paige, Bob Feller, Nolan Ryan, and Roger Clemens. An important pitch related to the fastball is the change-up, which is a deliberately slower pitch that can sneak past a batter expecting a fastball.
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history of baseball baseball
A comparatively new pitch, called the slider, was introduced in the 1920s by George Blaeholder, who otherwise had an undistinguished major league career. The slider is a cross between the fastball and the curve and involves the best features of both. It is thrown with the speed and the pitching motion of the fastball, but, instead of the wide sweep of the conventional curve, it has a short and...
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contribution to pitching baseball
In the 1970s relief pitcher Bruce Sutter introduced the split-fingered fastball, which broke downward at the plate in a motion often compared, with some exaggeration, to a ball rolling off a table.
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