The National League Votes to Ban the Spitball

On December 10, 1919, the National League voted to ban the spitball and other "freak" pitches at its annual owners' meeting. Pittsburgh Pirates owner Barney Dreyfuss led the push, arguing that doctored baseballs gave pitchers an unfair advantage that suppressed offense and made the game less appealing to fans.

The spitball had been a staple of pitching arsenals since the early 1900s. Pitchers applied saliva, tobacco juice, petroleum jelly, or other substances to the ball, causing it to drop sharply and unpredictably as it crossed the plate. The pitch was difficult to hit and difficult to catch, creating problems for everyone on the field except the man throwing it.

The December vote was a first step. The Major League Baseball Rules Committee formally adopted the ban before the 1920 season, applying it to both leagues. Pitchers caught using a foreign substance on the ball faced a ten-game suspension. But the rule included a grandfather clause that allowed current spitball practitioners to keep throwing it for the remainder of their careers. Seventeen pitchers received the exemption.

The last legal spitballer was Burleigh Grimes, who threw his final pitch in 1934 and was later inducted into the Hall of Fame.

The spitball ban was one piece of a larger effort to increase scoring after two decades of pitcher-dominated baseball. The introduction of a cleaner, more tightly wound baseball in 1920, combined with the ban on doctored pitches, helped launch the live-ball era. Babe Ruth hit 54 home runs in 1920, more than double his previous best, and batting averages across the league climbed sharply.

The December 1919 vote drew a line between two distinct periods of baseball. Offense had been scarce. It was about to arrive in force.