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I made a thread about this same thing in 2010 with the same title. However, it has been archived so I can't quote or add on to it. I hope the mods and the People of the Fever don't mind my reopening.
I've always been amazed by the pitcher who gets by using just one pitch. No pitcher has ever exclusively thrown one pitch 100% of the time, but there are those who have thrown a particular pitch thousands of times, enough to have composed of a vast majority of their total major league throws. Every batter knows what's coming, what it's going to do, yet this pitcher still triumphs. Amazing.
I salute those who've absolutely mastered a pitch.
Walter Johnson: fastball. I'm not even going to bother bringing up quotes and tales about the fastball. The pitch was thrown so fast from such an awkward angle that it enabled Johnson to dominate like no pitcher ever has. Only Smoky Joe Wood may have been faster in this era. Nap Rucker can be found saying that Johnson had "more stuff than [he] ever saw in a pitcher," though I'm unsure if that means repertoire or skill. My guess is repertoire because Johnson could probably do different things with it. What's interesting are the accounts of his curveball, which he developed around 1913. Some players have described it as a dinky loop, like Eddie Collins when he said, "Walter had a habit of throwing his curve ball whenever he got two strikes...he didn't have a curve, just a wrinkle. So I'd take two strikes and look for that little curve."
Others have said that it's speed and sudden, though rather lesser, break made it very effective. Johnson himself said that it had "proved serviceable" to him. If the heat wasn't doing the trick, he'd throw a curve.
Mariano Rivera: cutter. Not much else to say.
Kid Nichols: fastball. Reds scout Al Chapman best sums up my second paragraph when he wrote, “There have been a few pitchers in the history of baseball who could ‘get by’ with nothing more than a good fastball. I remember seeing Charlie Nichols...go through nine innings with just four curves and all the rest fast balls. Asked on one occasion why he threw so few curves, Charlie replied, ‘They say the batters like speed. Well, maybe they do if you don’t give them too much. I figure I’ve got that little too much.’” This goes along the lines of Regie Jackson’s quote on Nolan Ryan: “Every hitter likes fastballs just like everybody likes ice cream. But you don't like it when someone's stuffing it into you by the gallon. That's how you feel when Nolan Ryan’s throwing balls by you."
Nichols is said to have had a swift, fluid delivery for his jumping fastball. Great control helped him notch 300 wins. It’s possible that he could make it do different things given his era of pitch experimenting.
Goose Gossage: fastball. Though he had a changeup and slurve, Gossage used the fastball very often.
Bruce Sutter: splitter. Without it, Sutter claims he would never have made it out of AA ball. It appeared to come in as a strike, but according to Tim McCarver, Sutter rarely threw it for a strike. The splitter could come on any count.
Bob Lemon: slider. I’m actually unsure how often Lemon threw it, but I do have Roger Angell saying that Lemon may have been the first man to have pitched his way into the HoF using a slider. I do know that Lemon had a sinking fastball and curve. Maybe he doesn’t belong here.
That’s all I have for now. Anyone else care to contribute?
I've always been amazed by the pitcher who gets by using just one pitch. No pitcher has ever exclusively thrown one pitch 100% of the time, but there are those who have thrown a particular pitch thousands of times, enough to have composed of a vast majority of their total major league throws. Every batter knows what's coming, what it's going to do, yet this pitcher still triumphs. Amazing.
I salute those who've absolutely mastered a pitch.
Walter Johnson: fastball. I'm not even going to bother bringing up quotes and tales about the fastball. The pitch was thrown so fast from such an awkward angle that it enabled Johnson to dominate like no pitcher ever has. Only Smoky Joe Wood may have been faster in this era. Nap Rucker can be found saying that Johnson had "more stuff than [he] ever saw in a pitcher," though I'm unsure if that means repertoire or skill. My guess is repertoire because Johnson could probably do different things with it. What's interesting are the accounts of his curveball, which he developed around 1913. Some players have described it as a dinky loop, like Eddie Collins when he said, "Walter had a habit of throwing his curve ball whenever he got two strikes...he didn't have a curve, just a wrinkle. So I'd take two strikes and look for that little curve."
Others have said that it's speed and sudden, though rather lesser, break made it very effective. Johnson himself said that it had "proved serviceable" to him. If the heat wasn't doing the trick, he'd throw a curve.
Mariano Rivera: cutter. Not much else to say.
Kid Nichols: fastball. Reds scout Al Chapman best sums up my second paragraph when he wrote, “There have been a few pitchers in the history of baseball who could ‘get by’ with nothing more than a good fastball. I remember seeing Charlie Nichols...go through nine innings with just four curves and all the rest fast balls. Asked on one occasion why he threw so few curves, Charlie replied, ‘They say the batters like speed. Well, maybe they do if you don’t give them too much. I figure I’ve got that little too much.’” This goes along the lines of Regie Jackson’s quote on Nolan Ryan: “Every hitter likes fastballs just like everybody likes ice cream. But you don't like it when someone's stuffing it into you by the gallon. That's how you feel when Nolan Ryan’s throwing balls by you."
Nichols is said to have had a swift, fluid delivery for his jumping fastball. Great control helped him notch 300 wins. It’s possible that he could make it do different things given his era of pitch experimenting.
Goose Gossage: fastball. Though he had a changeup and slurve, Gossage used the fastball very often.
Bruce Sutter: splitter. Without it, Sutter claims he would never have made it out of AA ball. It appeared to come in as a strike, but according to Tim McCarver, Sutter rarely threw it for a strike. The splitter could come on any count.
Bob Lemon: slider. I’m actually unsure how often Lemon threw it, but I do have Roger Angell saying that Lemon may have been the first man to have pitched his way into the HoF using a slider. I do know that Lemon had a sinking fastball and curve. Maybe he doesn’t belong here.
That’s all I have for now. Anyone else care to contribute?
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