Word: pitch
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1950-1959
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...world. The Soviet policy of smiles was picking up mileage and momentum by the minute, relaxing freedom's watchfulness, exacerbating the free world's differences, as the urgency of fear was removed. In suburban Hyattsville, Md., First Secretary Alexander Zinchuk of the Soviet embassy made a jovial pitch for a U.S.-Russian bridge across the Bering Strait so man could ride by road and rail from Hyattsville to the Kremlin. Back home in the U.S.S.R. Nikita Khrushchev feted Premier Guy Mollet of France as the "flying swallow of peace." Along with the smiles, the Communists offered what appeared...
...with what he has: a dinky curve, a sneaky but unspectacular fast ball, and a frustrating change of pace. He offers no single dramatic talent-he has no counterpart of Carl Hubbell's spectacular screwball, Walter Johnson's terrifying fast ball, Bobby Feller's strikeout touch. Pitch for pitch, many of his contemporaries have what the trade calls "more stuff," pitches that are harder, faster, or trickier. But better than any of them now on the mound, Robin Roberts can put the ball where he wants. There is one precious-diamond word for him-control...
Play It Mean. Today occasional pitchers may still get away with an occasional outlawed spitter, but that dangerous pitch has all but vanished. Just about the only survival from baseball's rowdy youth is the "accidental" beanball, the close pitch that keeps a batter honest by forcing him back from the plate, that keeps him from taking a toehold and getting set to powder the ball. If the Phillies' Coach Whitlow Wyatt, who learned his baseball manners as one of Leo Durocher's Dodgers, had his way, Philly pitchers would put the brush-back pitch to constant...
When Roberts tried out for the State baseball team, his hitting was too weak for an infielder, so he asked Coach John Kobs for a chance to pitch. "I liked his motion," says Kobs. "He threw it someplace around where the catcher held his glove, and that made sense...
...Tremendous Difference. Roberts professes to be unconcerned with the fact that he is using up his career pitching for a losing club. "Getting traded or staying isn't a deep ingrained thing with me," he says. "This club always could potentially win the pennant. Especially when I pitch, it isn't a fourth-place club. Usually they get the runs...