The Pitch of the '80s Is Back, and It's Taking Over Baseball

There was an old SNES game called "Bases Loaded" that had a glitch, you could throw a high splitter or forkball, and the NPC stooges would swing through it almost every time, maybe 1/10 they would hit a little squibber. I threw a lot of perfect games with 27 Ks that season🤣

Now bring back the Knuckler.

To everyone watching this video, the creator of this video who did all of the research and hours of editing and narration is being ripped off by MLB. They are claiming the rights to this, even though the amount of information used from MLB is minimal. Very discouraging to video creators when multimillion dollar organizations are so greedy that they try to suck every penny they can from baseball fans. They should be glad that these videos bring more attention to the baseball world. This is my grandson who has put house and days in creating this😡

I watched a lot of Tigers games in the '80s and the announcers were always talking about the nasty split-fingered fastball of Jack Morris.

The MLB Power Pros music is making me feel all kinds of nostalgia.

I think the biggest contributor to the revitalization of the splitter was the WBC. Just about every pitcher from team Japan was using the splitter and it was extremely effective

i think a big reason that the splitter is so effective is because hitting coaches are pushing the launch angle stuff, so it only makes sense that throwing a pitch that has a lot of sink would be very effective against hitter trying to elevate the ball

Splitter is the reason why Clemens in Houston was so dominant. His Splitter was nasty

I was watching the Tevor Bauer YouTube channel and he said that he learned the pitch while in Japan that every pitcher over there throws one because it's a really tough pitch for hitters that have a flat swing plane. That alot of the Japanese hitters tend to have flat swing plans and that pitch is difficult for them to hit. He basically said its not as common in the US since hitters over here have more of an upper cut swing, but it can be very effective if used properly.

As a Braves fan I remember the splitter/fork ball all too well. Jack Morrison threw a 10-inning shutout against Atlanta in the '91 World Series for the Twins and won the World Series MVP.

Two Roger Craig's in San Francisco during the same era in two different sports was always a peculiarity to me as a kid.

Mike Scott from the Astros was a splitter master

Oh my God, the MLB Power Pros music got me. It's been more than a decade since I've played that game and I'd still remember that music anywhere from how much I played it. Best baseball game of all time, I wish they'd bring the new ones back to the US.

Amazing Video, I really enjoyed learning this today

Great video very in depth. Also made me nostalgic for MLB power pros lol

Scott's splitter and scuffing accusations brought me so much joy in the mid to late 80s. Good times!

I used to throw all sorts of pitches off of that grip in backyard games with tennis balls as a kid. You can get the ball to have backspin or topspin depending on how you release it, or even no spin, and that was just when I was throwing it over the top. You could use it to take some speed off the pitch or throw it hard. And then you could go sidearm and get one of the nastiest screwballs you've ever seen by pulling down on the back of the ball as you release it. I grew up an Astros fan (mostly stopped following them when they moved to the American league, and stopped all together with the trash cans). I loved Mike Scott back in the day though. I remember listening to a Mets broadcast. Ron Darling had been tipping his splitter because you could see him pushing on his glove when he gripped it. He ended up having to put the splitter grip on every pitch. He could then take the grip off in the glove when he was throwing something else. /I did tug down on the pitch pretty hard and did end up having to get some PT for 'tennis elbow'.

Roger Clemens extended his career with the splitter. He came up with, and was successful with, a tremendous fast ball, but when his velocity declined, he found the splitter and pitched another six or seven years featuring the splitter. Not every pitcher can control the pitch well enough to feature it in their mix.

Excellent video and history! Well done!

Ump: Hey, you're not throwing a spitball, are you? Bush: No, I'm not breaking any rules. Ump: Then, how are you making it move like that? Bush: I'm not telling you. Ump: Fair enough. Back to the game.