14 Jun 2022 2:47 pm
Yeah, I remember Gaylord Perry using that and regularly beating the Yankees with it. He was a master with a spitball/vaseline ball. But somehow the umps could never catch him with it. I remember Whitey Ford pitching when I was a kid, and they said he had perfected the mud ball. He'd throw a regular pitch, then the catcher (either Yogi or Elston Howard) would pretend to lose his balance with the ball in his throwing hand, and jam it into the dirt before throwing it back to Ford. Whitey said he could make a mud ball like that whistle Dixie for one pitch before the ump threw it out of the game. Another funny story I read (I think it was of Whitey) where he would use the wedding ring on his finger to secretly slice a cut into the ball and throw an unhittable pitch. The story told of an umpire who saw what he was doing in one game and went out to the mound. He told Whitey, "Go into the clubhouse and adjust your jock strap. And when you come back, you'd better not be wearing that **** ring!"Huey » 14 Jun 2022, 2:34 pm » wrote: ↑ Today's players can't master the Vaseline like the did back then
And seriously, they are always getting checked. The umpires are checking them after each inning.
Some great memories, huh?