View source for Forkball

{{Short description|Baseball pitch}}

[[File:Folkball 2.JPG|thumb|150px|The grip used for a forkball]]

The '''forkball''' is a type of [[pitch (baseball)|pitch]] in [[baseball]]. Related to the [[split-finger fastball]], the forkball is held between the first two fingers and thrown hard, snapping the wrist. Due to its movement being similar to that of a [[spitball]], the pitch is often called the "'''dry spitter'''".

The forkball differs from the split-fingered fastball, however, in that the ball is jammed deeper between the first two fingers. The result is that the forkball is generally thrown slightly slower than the splitter, but has more of a "tumbling" action akin to the movement of a [[12–6 curveball]], as it will drop off the plate before it gets to the catcher's mitt.

==Use in professional baseball==
[[File:Joe Bush, Philadelphia AL (baseball) LCCN2014694495.jpg|thumb|[[Bullet Joe Bush]], who is credited with inventing the forkball|left]]

[[Bullet Joe Bush|Joe Bush]], a pitcher from the 1910s and 1920s who played for the [[Philadelphia Athletics]] and [[Boston Red Sox]], is credited with the invention of the forkball, shortly [[Interwar period|following World War I]].<ref name="mlb-def">{{cite web |title=MLB Glossary: Forkball |url=https://www.mlb.com/glossary/pitch-types/forkball |website=[[MLB.com]]}}</ref>

The pitch has been favored by several current and former major league pitchers, including [[Tom Henke]], [[Kevin Appier]], [[Hideo Nomo]], [[José Valverde]], [[José Arredondo]], [[Ken Hill (baseball)|Ken Hill]], [[Justin Speier]], [[Kazuhiro Sasaki]], [[José Contreras]], [[Chien-Ming Wang]], [[Junichi Tazawa]], [[Robert Coello]], [[Edwar Ramírez]].<ref name="grantland">{{cite news |last1=Ryan |first1=Shane |date=June 28, 2012 |title=Forkball: The Other Forgotten Pitch |url=https://grantland.com/the-triangle/forkball-the-other-forgotten-pitch/ |work=[[Grantland]]}}</ref> Notably, [[Kodai Senga]] of the [[New York Mets]] has an effective forkball, nicknamed the "ghost fork".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Curtis |first1=Charles |title=What is the ghost fork? Kodai Senga's unreal pitch with so much movement, explained |url=https://ftw.usatoday.com/lists/kodai-senga-ghost-fork-pitch-what-is-it-explained |work=[[USA Today]] |date=March 6, 2023}}</ref> Many of these pitchers are also cited for throwing split-finger fastballs given the similarity between the pitches. In the case of Hideo Nomo, and many Japanese pitchers, they were able to change speeds and breaks on their "tumblers". The slower pitches with the bigger breaks were called forkballs, while the faster pitches with the more sudden drops were called split-finger fastballs, regardless of the grip.<ref name="MLB">{{cite web |title=Hideo Nomo pioneered path to MLB in 1995 |url=https://www.mlb.com/news/hideo-nomo-pioneered-path-to-mlb-in-1995 |website=MLB.com |date=May 3, 2020 |access-date=May 24, 2025 |quote=Nomo baffled hitters with a deceptive delivery and a plummeting forkball.}}</ref>

[[Roy Face]] and [[Lindy McDaniel]] were relief pitchers who pitched for 16 and 21 years, respectively, in the Major Leagues and were forkballers. Face started his career in 1953 and McDaniel in 1955. Face singlehandedly made the forkball a topic of popularized discussion through his effective use of the pitch.<ref name="Chass 1988">{{cite web | last=Chass | first=Murray | title=Notebook; Whatever It's Called, Forkball or Split-Fingered, It's Screwy | newspaper=The New York Times | date=1988-07-17 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/07/17/sports/notebook-whatever-it-s-called-forkball-or-split-fingered-it-s-screwy.html }}</ref>

The forkball was adopted by [[National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum|Hall of Famer]] [[Sandy Koufax]] towards the end of his career to make up for lost velocity due to arm injuries and to replace his rarely used [[changeup]], which he considered to be ineffective.<ref>{{cite book |title=Tim McCarver's Diamond Gems |publisher=McGraw Hill |year=2006 |url=https://archive.org/details/timmccarversdiam0000unse/page/224/mode/2up |pages=224–225 |isbn=978-0071545945}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Baseball pitches}}

[[Category:Baseball pitches]]