8) Candy Cummings (8/10)
8) Candy Cummings (8/10)
Candy Cummings was the dominant force in baseball during the early years and was inducted into the Hall of Fame due to his mastery of pitching. He was also responsible for inventing: the curveball, which was something that batters had never actually seen before.
It was made even more difficult for batters, since pitchers had to learn the curveball and not everyone could do it, so they had no practice in facing one in a game. The curveball was a pitch that Cummings had mastered and he was even outlawed at one time in the sport, since many believed that he was ‘dishonest’ by using the pitch.
This brought about the ban on the curveball, which was then lifted over the course of time. It is now one of the most important weapons in a pitcher’s arsenal in a game.