eephus
English edit
Alternative forms edit
- eephus pitch (common full name)
- ephus
Etymology edit
The naming of the pitch is generally credited to Maurice Van Robays in 1942, who said "it's a nothin' pitch, and eephus ain't nothing'".[1] However, it is not clear what the source for the name is; possibly Hebrew אפס (“nothing, zero”).
Noun edit
eephus (plural not attested)
- (baseball) An off-speed pitch with unusually low velocity, intended to catch the hitter off guard.
- 2003, Michael Seidel, Ted Williams: a baseball life:
- Sewell was determined to live or die by the eephus.
- 2004, Fred Cicetti, Saltwater Taffy: A Summer at the Jersey Shore:
- He figured that, if it were another eephus, he'd have time to react.
- 2005, Randy Roberts, The rock, the curse, and the hub: a random history of Boston sports:
- When, on his first pitch, Sewell served an eephus, Williams almost broke his back trying to get to it.
References edit
- ^ 2005, Jonathan Fraser Light, The Cultural Encyclopedia of Baseball, 2d ed. page 287, column 2