The hall
The arms that defined the pitches.
A pitch is a tool; a craftsman is who made it sing. This wing is the mental and physical edge of pitching, the intimidation, the conviction, the deception, told through the arms who owned a single pitch. Plus one pitch that is a legend rather than a person. Every quote and number is labeled by its source.
Bob Gibson
Slider
The most feared arm of his era, who pitched as though the plate were his to defend.
Nolan Ryan
Four-seam fastball
Twenty-seven seasons, seven no-hitters, and a fastball he would not throw down the middle for anyone.
Roger Clemens
Split-finger fastball
The only pitcher with two twenty-strikeout games, built late on a splitter he called Mr. Splitty.
Greg Maddux
Two-seam fastball
The thinking pitcher: four straight Cy Youngs on command, deception, and a fastball that rarely touched 89.
Johan Santana
Circle changeup
A circle changeup widely called the best of its era, built entirely on looking exactly like the fastball.
Adam Wainwright
12-6 curveball
One curveball, one team, eighteen seasons: a 75-mph hook so trusted it ended a pennant on a called strike three.
Paul Skenes
Splinker
The modern phenom whose splinker, a pitch he found by accident, is already one of the best in baseball.
The gyroball
Bullet spin, zero Magnus
The pitch designed on a computer, mythologized into a monster, and quietly debunked by physics.
Why a legend, not a master
The gyroball is filed apart on purpose. It is a real pitch, but most of what is said about it is myth. We keep it to show the difference between a sourced record and a good story, and to label which is which.