Baseball tradition holds that the first curveball was thrown in a game on October 7, 1867, by Hall of Famer Candy Cummings, pitcher for the Excelsiors of Brooklyn.
On the other hand, the New York Clipper reported that, after a game on September 22, 1860, more than seven years before Candy's historic game, "the result was chiefly owing to the very effective pitching of young Hannegan, of the Unions, who imparted such a twist to the balls he pitched, that it was almost impossible to hit them squarely and fairly into the field.."
On the other hand, the New York Clipper reported that, after a game on September 22, 1860, more than seven years before Candy's historic game, "the result was chiefly owing to the very effective pitching of young Hannegan, of the Unions, who imparted such a twist to the balls he pitched, that it was almost impossible to hit them squarely and fairly into the field.."
"Hannegan" was Bernard Hannegan (also spelt Hannigan), pitcher for the Unions of Morrisania, and if that isn't a description of a curveball, I don't know what is.
Hannegan's career lasted from 1859 to 1866, all of which he spent with the Unions.
A few notes about him:
In the infamous game between the Excelsiors and Unions of October 14, 1862, in which Jim Creighton, baseball's first super-star, hit a home-run and suffered what was most likely a ruptured inguinal hernia, dying four days later, Hannegan was the opposing pitcher for the Unions.
Hannegan's connection with Creighton was not only coincidental; Hannegan was one of a crowd of Creighton imitators. The 1876 DeWitt's Baseball Guide reports that Jim Creighton's speed and accuracy while throwing under-handed inspired dozens of mediocre copy-cats, and it singled out Bernard Hannegan as an example to be censured:
"In the days of the old Union nine of Morrisania, when Hannegan succeeded the old pitchers of the club, that player went in strong for speed, and tried in vain to succeed in command of the ball; but instead of the under-hand throw delivery, he sent the ball in by a square pitch, and as he did so with all the speed at his command, the result was that not one ball in six went near enough the bat to be hit. A wilder pitcher never handled the ball; and in those days, when the calling of "wides" or "balls," or in fact any punishment of the pitcher for an unfair and wide delivery was unknown, the games in which Hannegan pitched became noted for their tedious length, frequently occupying four hours."
Hannegan didn't just throw the seeming-first curveball; he invented the endless baseball game.
Do you know if he hurt his arm? Considering all the experimentation he did, it wouldn't surprise me if an injury ended his career.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea. It's certainly possible.
DeleteYeah, if folks thought that games were getting too long before the pitch-clock...
ReplyDeleteIf he threw the first curve, then I sure owe him a lot.
ReplyDeleteYou know, another pitcher who threw the curve early was Arthur Cummings. In 1865 he noticed that clam shells could break and experimented on a baseball. He developed a type of curveball and was able to use it to his advantage. I don't know who made it up first, but I thought it was interesting.
ReplyDelete