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The hall

The arms that defined the pitches.

The arms that owned a pitch, and the one pitch that is a legend, not a person. Every quote sourced.

The masters

12 arms, filed in the order their eras began: 1928 to Jurrangelo Cijntje. Each card's band is the career laid against the same century; the longer the bar, the longer the arm lasted.

Master · C-091928-1943

Carl Hubbell

Screwball

The screwball master who struck out five Hall of Famers in a row.

Open the file →left-handed
Master · C-011959-1975

Bob Gibson

Slider

The most feared arm of his era, who pitched as though the plate were his to defend.

Open the file →right-handed
Master · C-081964-1987

Phil Niekro

Knuckleball

The only knuckleballer to win 300 games: a Hall of Fame career built on the one pitch nobody, himself included, could fully explain.

Open the file →right-handed
Master · C-021966-1993

Nolan Ryan

Four-seam fastball

Twenty-seven seasons, seven no-hitters, and a fastball he would not throw down the middle for anyone.

Open the file →Film filedright-handed
Master · C-031984-2007

Roger Clemens

Split-finger fastball

The only pitcher with two twenty-strikeout games, built late on a splitter he called Mr. Splitty.

Open the file →right-handed
Master · C-041986-2008

Greg Maddux

Two-seam fastball

The thinking pitcher: four straight Cy Youngs on command, deception, and a fastball that traded power for placement.

Open the file →right-handed
Master · C-101995-2013

Mariano Rivera

Cutter

The greatest closer ever, built on one pitch he discovered by accident. The first player voted into the Hall of Fame unanimously.

Open the file →Film filedright-handed
Master · C-052000-2012

Johan Santana

Circle changeup

A circle changeup widely called the best of its era, built entirely on looking exactly like the fastball.

Open the file →left-handed
Master · C-062005-2023

Adam Wainwright

12-6 curveball

One curveball, one team, eighteen seasons: a big, slow hook so trusted it ended a pennant on a called strike three.

Open the file →right-handed
Master · C-112006-2020

Cole Hamels

Circle changeup

A left-handed changeup artist whose out-pitch carried him to a World Series MVP: the southpaw answer to Santana.

Open the file →left-handed
Master · C-072024-present

Paul Skenes

Splinker

The modern phenom whose splinker, a pitch he found by accident, is already one of the best in baseball.

Open the file →Film filedright-handed
Master · C-122024-present

Jurrangelo Cijntje

Switch-pitching

The best two-armed arm the game has produced — an ace from the right side, a specialist from the left, carried in one body.

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The legend

Legend · L-01Designed 2001

The gyroball

Bullet spin, zero Magnus

The pitch designed on a computer, mythologized into a monster, and quietly debunked by physics.

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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.