Found a great article from 1970 about Tom Seaver. I personally believe there are too many throwers (the Next Seaver Matt Harvey being an example) and not enough pitchers focused on the mental part of the game.
“There’s only about six inches of a bat that has decent enough wood to hit the ball anyplace,” Seaver explains. “And that’s exactly where I’m not going to pitch. The natural motion for hitting or throwing is about the same height as your arm. But release the ball at a certain point in my movement so that I can pitch downstairs—trying to tick the edge of the plate around a hitter’s knees. All I want is the red seams over the plate. When a hitter finally gets set for a pitch downstairs—bang!—you go upstairs. But I have to be flexible enough to alter my game plan. I may plan to give somebody a fast ball, curve and curve. Then he’s got his timing down so well that he lines my first curve down the foul line I’d better give him anything but a curve again.”
Treat yourself to the full article in the New York Times archives.
