OT: Valverde throws a spit ball. Video included
Say it ain't so Papa Grande'
It is ungodly difficult to embed while starting a topic so I put the video in the body. Slo-mo and real speed
To be fair, it's not clear if he actually spit on the ball or just somewhere in his glove.
Valverde ended up throwing a 4-seam fastball on that pitch - one that came up and in to the batter. Spit balls are used to make the ball drop and break. If he were throwing spit ball, he would have thrown his splitter, which sinks.
The video doesn't look real good, but I'd chalk it up to just an unfortunate circumstance.
I meant an unfortunate coincidence. We'll chalk that one up to frying my brain studying for the bar exam...
It looks like he is chewing bubble gum and when others are seeing him work up a spit, I see him positioning the gum, as he then pushes his tongue out to stretch it. I dare anyone to do that (like you are preparing to blow a bubble) and then spit without winding up with the gum in your glove.
he has so many superstitions that he may not have been spitting on the ball, he might have been blowing on the ball, or attempting to blow a bubble in his glove. I watched the video a few times and I did not see any spit go into his glove BUT he does look like he spits in his glove. Hopefully he knocks this ritual off fast..
I don't care about this. The Tigers came up with clutch hits on the unhittable Chapman and got an impressive comeback W on national TV. Good win.
Edit: I don't mean for this to be flamebait just saying I'm not looking for negatives on this already struggling Tigers team haha
Verlander has something on his hairline on his neck. He's constantly putting his hand back there and lets face it his curveball is sick when he's on.
I'm sure this is sacrilage and will get appropriately downvoted but watch closely his next outing. At best its sweat he's reaching for, at worst its something in his hair.
Hmm, yes, I think you're onto something. And Joaquin Benoit MUST have something hidden on his forehead! If you watch carefully, he always wipes his hand across his forehead between pitches. I'm guessing he had some sort of vaseline pump installed in his forehead, and he gets a little bit on his hand every time he wipes.
It should be noted that this really doesn't affect the ball too much. It's very difficult to throw a "spitball" with just spit. It's usually done with vaseline, or in Gaylord Perry's case, by soaking your jersey in soapy water so your sweat is slippery.
A spitball is thrown by pinching the ball at release, causing a bit of a knuckling-sinker. Valverde was pretty much throwing fastballs.
Yeah, he broke the rules. But I really don't feel like it's that big of a deal considering you can spit on your fingers as long as you're off the mound.