Screwball
A screwball, also called a scroogie, is a baseball and fastpitch softball pitch that is thrown so as to break in the opposite direction of a slider or curveball. Depending on the pitcher's arm angle, the ball may also have a sinking action. The pitch is rarely used in 21st century baseball because of a belief that it was hard on the arm, and its replacement with other off-speed pitches. The last starting pitcher to regularly use a screwball was Fernando Valenzuela, who played in the 1980s and 1990s.
Carl Hubbell was one of the most renowned screwball pitchers in the history of Major League Baseball. Hubbell was known as the "scroogie king" for his mastery of the pitch and the frequency with which he threw it. Other famous screwball hurlers include Tug McGraw, inaugural Hall of Fame member Christy Mathewson, and Cy Young Award winners Mike Cuellar, Fernando Valenzuela, Mike Marshall, and Willie Hernández. Also Sloppy Thurston who became the fifth pitcher in major-league history to pitch an immaculate inning.
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