spitball

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When the spitball was outlawed after the 1919 season as part of the post-Black Sox scandal clean-up, 17 pitchers were allowed to keep throwing it, including future Hall of Famer Stan Coveleski, who once threw seven innings without throwing a ball.

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Definitions (5)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun A piece of paper chewed and shaped into a lump for use as a projectile.
  2. noun Baseball An illegal pitch in which a foreign substance, such as saliva, is applied to the ball before it is thrown. Also called spitter.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (1)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913

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Examples (45)

  • There seemed to be no threat, no spitball-shooting tanks, no ifrit, not even starvation from delay. —  Ogre Ogre
  • Ewing was just perfecting his spitball, which would carry him through several good seasons. —  Cincinnati Reds Blog
  • And then the obligatory spitball, courtesy one Coalition to Save Potrero: "What they're doing is more of a cookie-cutter design." —  Curbed SF
  • Again, this is all a spitball (I am going to ask a gay person I know tomarrow about this). —  Conservapedia - Recent changes [en]
  • His signature pitch was the spitball, so much so that Shocker was among the 17 major league pitchers allowed to continue using the pitch in the grandfather clause included in the spitball's prohibition. —  The Hardball Times
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/ˈspɪtbɔl/
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