Fast Ball

Over the summer, I noted that Nats Park would soon be graced with some orb sculptures, otherwise known as "30 stainless steel-domed forms which will accurately follow the theoretical model of the trajectory of a curving fast-ball pitch." ❋ Dan Steinberg (2010)

How many actors have the comic touch to play the fast-ball, slow-brain minor-league pitcher Nuke LaLoosh in "Bull Durham" and the dramatic power to play the life-in-death hero of "Jacob's Ladder"? ❋ Unknown (2008)

I certainly wasn't going to argue with that, although I would have put it differently: If you're a fast-ball pitcher, you have to throw heat in the big games. ❋ Unknown (2004)

In addition to two fast-ball speeds and the curve, I also use a screwball, a slider, and occasionally a floating slow pitch. ❋ Bill James Rob Neyer (2004)

Quote: “Kirby Higbe, who was a fast-ball pitcher when he was with Philadelphia, Chicago and Brooklyn, experimented with the knuckle-ball while with Pittsburgh and for two years threw almost nothing else for New York!” ❋ Bill James Rob Neyer (2004)

Quote: “Paul Richards has come up with a fast-ball phenom in Southpaw Don Ferrarese … Ferrarese throws a jet ball with sharp-breaking radar-controlled curve.” ❋ Bill James Rob Neyer (2004)

It is almost painful to watch, for Koufax, instead of merely overpowering hitters, as some fast-ball throwers do, appears to dismantle them, taking away first one and then another of their carefully developed offensive weapons and judgments, and leaving them only with the conviction that they are the victims of a total mismatch. ❋ Bill James Rob Neyer (2004)

He was a fast-ball pitcher, but he had good control, too. ❋ Bill James Rob Neyer (2004)

The 12th turnover of the half came just before halftime, when Shumpert fired a fast-ball off of Anthony, leading to a fast-break dunk for Ronnie Brewer and unleashing a torrent of boos as the Bulls pushed the lead to 55-42. ❋ By HOWARD BECK (2012)