Spitball

The dramatic increase in the popularity of "freak deliveries" led to a great deal of controversy throughout the 1910s regarding the abolition of the spitball and related pitches.

A variation on the standard spitball called for the pitcher to smear the entire surface of the normally white ball with a mixture of tobacco spittle and dirt or mud in order to stain it the same deep brown color as the infield which made it nearly impossible for batters to see (and sometimes avoid) in low-light conditions.

In August 1920, Ray Chapman was killed when he was struck in the temple by a pitch thrown by known spitball pitcher Carl Mays during a poorly lit game.

The complete list of exempted spitballers is: Ray Fisher (played through 1920); Doc Ayers (1921); Ray Caldwell (1921); Phil Douglas (1922); Dana Fillingim (1925); Marv Goodwin (1925); Dutch Leonard (1925); Allen Russell (1925); Allen Sothoron (1926); Dick Rudolph (1927); Stan Coveleski (1928); Urban Shocker (1928); Bill Doak (1929); Clarence Mitchell (1932); Red Faber (1933); Jack Quinn (1933); and Grimes.

[5] In March 1955, MLB Commissioner Ford Frick advocated for the return of the spitball, telling a sportswriter, "If I had my way, I'd legalize the old spitter.

Preacher Roe, who played for the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1950s, was renowned both for his ability to control the spitball and to throw it without getting caught and described his methodology in a 1955 article in Sports Illustrated.

[8] Another famous user of the pitch was Gaylord Perry, who went so far as to title his autobiography Me and the Spitter and chronicled the clever ways in which he avoided detection.

There is also the remote term of God-given spitter, which is when the ball is naturally dampened by moist air or light rainfall, which allows pitchers to be able to throw pitches with sharper breaks, much like a spitball.