I nominate Mariano Rivera's cut fastball. He really hasn't needed anything else on the way to a HOF career. What are some of the others?

Barry Zito's curveball when he was "on"...

Zito's curveball won him a Cy Young, so that is a worthy nomination. Reminds me that in the mid 1980s The Sporting News ranked best pitches for each league and Nolan Ryan won for best NL curveball.

How about Fernando Valenzuela's screwball?

Can i nominate Dave Stewart's death stare and his forkball?

zorch wrote:

Barry Zito's curveball when he was "on"...

I agree with this too.  That season everyone knew it was coming, but they still couldnt hit it anyway.

I vote for Johan's change-up. It is the standard by which all change-ups are measured, especially for lefties.

Walter Johnson's fastball. Sandy Koufax's curveball.

Gaylord Perry's spitball.

I have to agree that Zito's curve was amazing when he was at his best. It was a majestic, sweeping curve...pretty much the platonic form of it. There are other types of curveballs...harder ones, lesser movement...but I think it's the big hook that Zito had that is the most impressive-looking pitch in baseball.

Maddux' changeup(s)?

Randy Johnson's slider, too.

Minstrel wrote:

Walter Johnson's fastball. Sandy Koufax's curveball.

 

Gaylord Perry's spitball.

 

I have to agree that Zito's curve was amazing when he was at his best. It was a majestic, sweeping curve...pretty much the platonic form of it. There are other types of curveballs...harder ones, lesser movement...but I think it's the big hook that Zito had that is the most impressive-looking pitch in baseball.

 

 

gaylord perry...same one i was going to mention!

Minstrel: Walter Johnson's fastball. Sandy Koufax's curveball.

You could go with Koufax fastball as well. Mays and several others called it the best they ever saw. Mays said it rose. He could read the pitch out of Koufax's hand and still couldn't hit it. Of course, it didn't really rise, but it didn't drop as fast as other pitcher's fastballs either. I read an article once that explained Koufax's fastball completed two more revolutions before reaching home than any other fastball of the era. That extra backspin of the seams does increase lift.

Randy Johnson and Walter Johnson share the freaky ability to throw sidearm fastballs in the 90s. Walter just blew the weaklings of his day away with a fastball estimated in the low 90s. Big Unit was taller, longer, and could touch 102. I don't like to compare players separated by 100 years, but Big Unit's fastball was sick and a worth candidate. As Minstrel mentioned, his nasty slider may be the best ever.

Some others that stand out in my mind: Trevor Hoffman's or Pedro Martinez' change (Hoffman for deception, Pedro for amazing control of extreme movement). Mark Mulder's over-the-top fastball (players voted it the toughest pitch to hit a few years ago -- felt like they were swinging uphill), Phil Niekro's knuckleball (Canseco's career didn't last long enough, never saw Hoyt Wilhelm or Eddie Cicotte  ), Billy Swift's sinker (apologies to Mordecai Brown -- never saw you either), Blyleven's curveball. Evaluating pitches that aren't thrown as much like splitters is harder. Clemens? Scott? Stew? That HOF reliever for Phils... name is eluding me.  All good choices. Slurve? Gotta be Kerry Wood. Looked like a whiffle ball before his elbow disentegrated. Knucklecurve -- Mussina. Gyroball -- Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Gyroball -- Daisuke Matsuzaka.

If that counts, might as well throw in Pascual Perez's ephus pitch!

Keith Foulke's palmball?

Here's to hoping Andrew Bailey's cutter supplants Mariano Rivera's in history...

Christy Matthewson's screwball was supposedly amazing (I'm not old enough to have seen it!). I believe he was one of the pioneers of the pitch, and it was called the "fade-away."

I've read about Matthewson's fade away. He was the pioneer of off speed stuff. Even though most put him in their top 10, I've always thought he was kind of overlooked. From everything I've read, he was a true artist on the mound. A guy who could throw four or five different pitches for strikes when most pitchers of his era had two.

Satchel Paige's Bat Dodger, Hesitation Pitch & Four-Day Creeper