![]() ![]() In 1872, the rules caved to accommodate the trend and began permitting a side arm release. Of course, it didn't take long for pitchers to realize that by inching up their release points past the legal limit they could give their team a competitive advantage. His purpose was the serve up pitches that the batter would then put in play, because what the audience liked to see was fine fielding plays and lots of base running." "He was not regarded as someone who was in mortal combat with the batter. "The pitching motion was different because the role of the pitcher in relation to the batter was different," Thorn says. If you think that sounds unfair to the pitchers, who were forced into a relatively unnatural throwing motion, you'd be correct. Straight underhand until 1872," MLB's Official Historian John Thorn says. "The rule was that your arm had to be perpendicular. ![]() It was any year before 1872 and it wasn't because our ball-playing forefathers had yet to master the more masculine-seeming motion, but rather because it was written into the rules. And why shouldn't they be? An overhand windup is not only iconic and powerful, it's also the natural movement when playing catch with a ball.īut there was a time when all the pitchers threw underhand. Submarine pitchers, whose release point is so low their knuckles practically scrape the ground, are a rare breed in Major League Baseball. If you're even a casual baseball fan, that second question-why don't more pitchers throw submarine style?-might seem preposterous. ![]()
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