The charm of the National Pastime is in part due to the myths it inspires, from the creation story of Abner Doubleday, to the beginnings of the curveball and William Cummings. “Candy” Cummings claimed to have invented the curve in 1863 after noticing thrown clam shells bobbed and dipped in flight. What a delightful story! Of course, like Doubleday’s invention of baseball, Cummings’ claim to the first curveball is subject to dispute.
The debate about whether the ball actually curved or just appeared to do so probably began as soon as the first batter came back to the bench after being struck out by the mighty deuce. These arguments were mainly a barroom diversion until May 1941 when R. W. Madden’s letter to the editor of the New Yorker asserted, “No man alive, nor no man that ever lived, has ever thrown a curve ball. It can’t be done.”
Yet, the persistence of myth is central to the human condition and so it is in baseball. There are still those that insist the curve doesn’t curve. They often cite the 2009 Illusion of the Year. The appropriate punishment for the stubborn adherents of the discredited letter-to-the-editor writer, Mr. Madden, was once suggested by Hall of Fame pitcher Dizzy Dean: “Shucks, get behind a tree and I’ll hit you with an optical illusion.”
