Word: sliders
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...Every pitcher you face has the slider and uses it pretty well. When I came up to the majors, very few pitchers had it. It fits the shape of this bat. It comes in like a fast ball and breaks a few inches in toward the hands of the batter. That means it breaks in where there is no wood in the bat. Just the thin handle. It breaks so late you can't adjust your swing for it. Used to be all you had to worry about was the fast ball, the curve and the change...
PITCHING. The Pirates have the requisite pair of strong men to start as many as five of the possible seven games: Mormon Elder Vernon Law (20-9), who has glacial calm and a fast slider...
...Face (10-8), who throws a dipping forkball that induces rally-killing grounders. For the Yankees, fading Whitey Ford (12-9) still looks able to pitch two big games with know-how and his sharp curve, and Art Ditmar (15-9) has developed into a steady winner with his slider. But Bob Turley (9-3) now throws more benders than bullets, and Stengel may be forced to depend heavily on a 22-year-old rookie named Bill Stafford...
...high, hard one all afternoon. But, like all pitchers, Spahn soon found his fastball tailing off, began to develop his assortment of multiple-speed curves. Ten years ago, when he saw that even his curves and control were not enough, Spahn started to perfect a screwball and a slider with the patience of a hothouse gardener growing prize orchids. Says the Cardinals' Stan Musial: "The tough pitcher is the one with a pitch that breaks in and another that breaks out, and Spahn has them for either right or lefthanded batters...
...lost six at Vancouver last year. With all our kids, we develop a basic pitch they can get over when they have to with some stuff on it. Estrada's strike pitch is a fast ball that drops. Barber's is a slider. His fast ball moves around too much to get over every time...