What pitches did they throw?

[Erdmania]

So I'm organizing an MLB 2006: The Show tournament here, and everyone is making their "all-time" teams for their respective clubs. Obviously I have the Tigers, and I have to create a whole bunch of players now (based on Baseball Mogul statistics). What I need to know, is if anyone remembers what pitches these guys threw? I'm too young to have seen most of them play, and it's hard finding information on the net about someone's pitch arsenal--and besides, it's fun conversation!

Fidrych
Newhouser
Morris
Lolich
McLain

Hernandez
Tanana
Aurelio Lopez

[cjd@sportsmogul.com]

Baseball Mogul has pitch arsenals for everyone we could find data for. Inside the Baseball Mogul folder, open up [Baseball Mogul 2007 Folder]\Input\Players\PitchRatings.csv to read the data directly.

[A.J.K.]

frank tanana as i recall was a lot like kenny rogers... fastball, changeup, curve, maybe a little cut fastball/slider

[scribe114]

Fidrych Fastball, Slider, Change-up
Newhouser- Fastball, Sweeping Curve, Change-up
Morris- Fastball, Slider, Forkball
Lolich- Sinker/Slider, Fastball, Curve, Change
McLain- Fastball. Change. Curve. Slider
Hernandez- Screwball, Fastball,
Tanana- Fastball, Hard Curve, Slow Curve, Fastball, Change
Aurelio Lopez- Fastball, Slider, Screwball

[JS]

If you're interested in this kind of stuff in general, Rob Neyer has a book that gives pitch information for every pitcher in baseball history. I haven't read it, but I like almost all of Neyer's stuff so I'm sure it's good.

[Canon Fodder]

If you're interested in this kind of stuff in general, Rob Neyer has a book that gives pitch information for every pitcher in baseball history. I haven't read it, but I like almost all of Neyer's stuff so I'm sure it's good.

It's very good. There are essays on some of the big pitches -- how the slider revolutionized the game, the knuckleball, et cetera -- and then a breakdown of what of nearly every pitcher in the history of MLB threw.

[Shinzaki]

Before he hurt his arm Tanana threw a FASTBALL. After his arm injury he threw a "fastball". He never became afraid to pitch inside though. He really knew how to pick his spots though.

[redshark63]

Before he hurt his arm Tanana threw a FASTBALL. After his arm injury he threw a "fastball". He never became afraid to pitch inside though. He really knew how to pick his spots though.

You are so correct.

Back in mid/late '70's, the Angels had Ryan from the right side and Tanana from the left side pouring HEAT!

Talk about SMOKIN'!!

Too bad they had zero hitting.

[ToledoTigerFan]

Fidrych Fastball, Slider, Change-up
Newhouser- Fastball, Sweeping Curve, Change-up
Morris- Fastball, Slider, Forkball
Lolich- Sinker/Slider, Fastball, Curve, Change
McLain- Fastball. Change. Curve. Slider
Hernandez- Screwball, Fastball,
Tanana- Fastball, Hard Curve, Slow Curve, Fastball, Change
Aurelio Lopez- Fastball, Slider, Screwball

The Bird also had a knee-buckling curveball. It may have been his best pitch. If you ever see any tapes of him pitching, watch the bite of his curve. It grabs air.

[DaYooperASBDT]

The Bird was a couple years before my time unfortunately, but from watching tape of him, I was amazed at his ability to locate.

[DTroppens]

If I recall Neyer and James were the ones to do a combined effort on pitchers and what they threw. You may want to check their book out. I can't find it right off hand otherwise I'd give you the authors for sure and the book title, but it's still pretty prevalent in book stores. It's a decent book.

[ToledoTigerFan]

There's one pitch that seems to have almost died out completely and that is the screwball. Off the top of my head, I can't think of anyone who throws the screwball these days. Mike Cuellar probably had the best I ever saw and Fernando Valenzuela also had a great screwball. It puts a tremendous strain on the elbow, so it's possible no one even teaches the pitch anymore.

[estrepe1]

I think the last person I remember throwing a screwball is Jim Mecir. I could be wrong though. It is a really uncommon pitch.