Imagine this: It’s 1910, and pitchers are doctoring balls with spit, mud, tobacco juice—whatever they can get their hands on. The infamous spitball gave pitchers crazy movement on their throws, but also made the ball unpredictable and, frankly, kind of gross.
After the tragic death of Ray Chapman (hit by a dirty, hard-to-see ball), the spitball was banned in 1920—though a handful of pitchers were "grandfathered" in and allowed to keep using it.
Some say it was cheating. Others say it was just old-school ingenuity.
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