Famous Curveball Pitchers

James Madison University baseball's Head Coach Spanky McFarland defines a curveball as "95 percent fastball and 5 percent turn and bend" in his book "Coaching Pitchers." That "turn-and-bend" is what makes a curveball pitch difficult to hit. Coach McFarland further specifies that "a good curve must [break] both vertically and horizontally and also [change] speeds." All of this unexpected movement along two separate planes is achieved by both the grip the pitcher uses to hold the ball and the point at which he releases it. A curveball that breaks straight down, often referred to as a "12-6" as in a clock face, is the most difficult to hit, McFarland says.

  1. Sandy Koufax

    • Koufax was said to have a "12-6" curveball: approaching 12 and then dropping abruptly to 6.

      Sandy Koufax, who pitched for the Los Angeles Dodgers, was once named the best pitcher overall by baseball legend Casey Stengel. Despite a career limited to 12 years and a bum elbow, his statistics are remarkable with more than 2,300 innings pitched and almost 2,396 batters struck out. Koufax retired early, at age 30, but not before winning four World Series championships and three Cy Young Awards. He became the youngest inductee elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame at age 34.

    Bert Blyleven

    • Blyleven was a genial yet effective right-hander who pitched in the Major Leagues for 22 years, half of them with the Minnesota Twins during two different tenures. Some of baseball's most evocative adjectives have been used to describe Blyleven's curveball. Brooks Robinson, a Hall-of-Famer hitter, called his curveball "nasty" and "knee-buckling." Other descriptions have included "gravity-defying." The descriptions were apparently accurate as Blyleven was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame after over 3,700 career strikeouts, a no-hitter, two All-Star team representations and two World Series championships.

    Camilo Pascual

    • Camilo Pascual, was a right-handed pitcher for 18 years in the Major Leagues. He signed first with the Washington Senators, but was traded to the Minnesota Twins for whom he played for 13 years. Pascual only had two pitches in his repertoire: a fastball and a "nasty" curveball. The hitter of all hitters, Ted Williams, called Pascual's curveball the "most feared curveball in the American League for 18 years."

    Satchel Paige

    • Satchel Paige's true accomplishments as painted by his pitching statistics may never be known. He began his baseball career in the Negro Leagues where documentation beyond who won was not a high priority. Baseball sources cite the beginning of his Major League career as 1948 and lasting until 1965. The length of his career, the consistency of the anecdotes and the remaining printed interviews all point to a pitcher of remarkable control and accuracy. Further, the movement demonstrated by his curveballs made hitters look foolish in their attempts to make contact. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971.