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If You're Interested in Real Old Time Baseball, This Posting is for You, Otherwise ZZZZZZZ

19th century pitching is very much a moving target. It started as more or less like slow-pitch softball, but by the late 1850s some pitchers were "swift" pitching. Creighton is the best known, but he wasn't the first: he was the first to really get the hang of it. Through the 1860s pitching was still underhand, but pitchers were trying various deliveries of variable legality to get more speed on the ball, usually sacrificing control. The base on balls was instituted for 1864 in an attempt to force pitchers to dial it back a bit and regain control. The issues of legality had to do with using elbow and wrist action to gain more speed and spin. The rule followed the cricket model of requiring a straight arm. This proved difficult to enforce, and by the early 1870s the rules makers pretty much threw in the towel. The issue then became the rising delivery point. Pitchers pushed the limit continually for the next decade, with the rules struggling to keep up with the practice. By 1883 many pitchers were throwing full overhand.

Note the progress of the curve ball in this timeline. There were proto-curves going back at least to 1869 and likely earlier, but they weren't widespread, and it isn't clear how effective they were. This changed as the arm angle rose, allowing for break down and away from the batter. 1875 is the breakout year. There were a couple guys noted for throwing curves before then: Cummings and Bond and Mathews. In 1875 the pitch caught on and was widely adopted. There follows a rapid transition as the old straight pitchers drop out: Zettlein and McBride and Spalding all quit pitching within a couple of years. Curve pitchers cycle through nearly as quickly. At first the curve is devastating, then the batters get the hang of it. Nolan in 1877 is the most notable example. Bradley was dominant in 1876, and much less so afterwards. Over the next few years pitchers work out a more modern approach of mixing things up, since neither a fast ball alone or a curve ball alone will cut it.

The pitcher who made the transition the most effectively was Bobby Mathews. He doesn't get talked about much, but his record is amazing. He first appears with the Marylands in 1869. Charlie Pabor later claimed that Mathews had an "out curve" even then. Mathews pitched into 1887, and was very effective as late as 1885. He made the transition from underhand pitching, through sidearm to full overhand, with the pitcher's position moved back five feet along the way. his numbers look pretty good even taken at face value. When one considers how they stretch over multiple eras of pitching, his numbers should astonish.

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