| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
The forkball is a type of pitch in baseball. Related to the split-fingered fastball, the forkball is held between the first two fingers and thrown hard without snapping the wrist. The forkball differs from the split-fingered fastball, however, in that the ball is jammed deeper between the first two fingers.
When released, the forkball, a "poor man's knuckleball" has little spin, causing it to "tumble" down through the strike zone. It can be thrown as hard as 90 mi/h (145 km/h), so it can look like a fastball until it breaks near the plate.
This as opposed to the splitter, which "drops off the table"—without any of the knuckle-like tumbling action of the slower, less-spin forkball.
The forkball is favored by Japanese pitchers. Hideo Nomo of the Los Angeles Dodgers features a particularly nasty forkball offering.