Deadball / Negro Leagues (1911–1936)
Cannonball Dick Redding
Three fastballs and superb control
Partially documented
An early power ace of Black baseball, Redding earned his nickname the only way it could be earned — by throwing the ball past everyone. The reputation is enormous and well-attested; the granular pitch detail is not. What survives is the shape of his game, not the grip of his hand on the ball.
What it was
An overpowering fastball thrown from a no-windup delivery, so dominant early in his career that he leaned almost entirely on raw power.
Why it is lost
His era predates pitch-tracking and detailed mechanical writeups; what survives is reputation and contemporary testimony, not grip or movement data.
The surviving record
A writer characterized his arsenal as essentially three fastballs — one on the outer half, one down the middle, one inside — backed by superb control.
Paraphrase of writer David Barr as relayed in the SABR BioProject biography; a secondary characterization, not a measured arsenal.
The 'Cannonball' nickname is attributed to a fastball said to knock catchers back behind the plate.
Every line here is what the recovered record can actually support, labeled by its source and its confidence. Where the legend says more than the record can prove, the gap is shown, not filled.