Eephus pitch

An Eephus pitch in baseball 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.

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. The ever-philosophical Lee said after the game, "Live by the slow curve, die by the slow curve."

Some nicknames for the Eephus include: LaLob, Folly Floater, Bloop Curve.

See also: List of pitches