Babe Ruth quotation from Babe Ruth's Own Book of Baseball

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concrete stand, there will be rough spots on the surface. And these rough spots are a pitcher’s magic. They not only give him a purchase at the start of his pitch, but they offer resistance to the wind as the ball travels to the plate as well. After all, the theory of curve ball pitching is simply to apply added friction to the ball on the side to which you want it to curve. On a curve that breaks down, the friction is applied from underneath at the time the ball leaves the pitcher’s hand. An outcurve finds the friction (the wrist snap) applied on the outside, a fast ball on the inside, etc. A pitcher ought to be able to throw a ball that would break up to the batter. A fast ball delivered straight overhand with an upward rotation, would do that. There’s one curve though that doesn’t work out, simply because the law of gravity overcomes the friction. The result is that a ball delivered overhand with friction from the top comes as near being a straight ball as any a man can throw. As a matter of fact, there is no such thing as an absolutely straight ball. Now and then a pitcher will come along who has enough speed and enough of a grip to give a fast ball an “upward” hop. Waite Hoyt’s fast one is that kind. And that’s why Waite’s fast ball is particularly effective. But it isn’t an upward curve. Just a slight rise at the end that ball players call a “Hop.” Ever since baseball became a popular game the newspaper boys have written stories about freak curves developed by this or that pitcher. You still hear about Matty’s “fadeaway,” about Joe Bush’s “fork ball,” about the “screw ball” and the “knuckle” ball and a dozen other freaks of pitching. As