Gene Collier: Did he just say splinker? Splinker!
Published in Baseball
A splitter is a pitch that drops at the last second due to a special grip in which the ball is wedged between the index and middle fingers. Some might ask the difference between a splitter and a forkball, and for that, we recall a quote from former Pirate reliever ElRoy Face, one of the game’s top forkball practitioners.
Is there any difference, ElRoy?
“About $4 million.”
In today’s game, closer to $40 million, but yeah.
Screwballs, knuckleballs and the eephus pitch have mostly disappeared from the game, but if there’s a resurgence, we’ll discuss as needed.
One final note: Thursday of this week saw the major-league debut of Twins starter David Festa, who apparently throws a combination slider/changeup.
There was no immediate indication of whether that’s a slange or a chider.
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