Update: Gravity-Defying Baseball Pitch Ready for U.S. (Popular Mechanics, 11/06/06)
American baseball fans are preparing to finally get a closer look at the “gyroball,” a pitch that may or may not really exist, but one that has been steadily gaining notoriety over the past year.
The pitcher most often associated with the gyroball, which was designed in a computer lab and breaks like a slider ignoring gravity, is Daisuke Matsuzaka. The 26-year-old Seibu Lions phenomenon recently led Japan to the World Baseball Classic championship but now finds himself at the center of a feverish silent auction: Major League Baseball clubs will submit sealed bids to the Lions by 5 p.m. Wednesday simply to secure negotiating rights with Matsuzaka. [...]
Matsuzaka’s initial outings will attract fans who simply want to catch a glimpse of the pitch whose name roughly translates to “Demon Sphere Gyro Ball.” But teams that can’t sign him shouldn’t fear: The man who created the pitch, Japanese computer scientist Ryutaro Himeno, emphasizes that Matsuzaka is hardly the only person to throw the pitch.
Mysterious gyroball may or may not be an actual Matsuzaka pitch (DAVID LENNON, November 7, 2006, Newsday)
Ask anyone here about Daisuke Matsuzaka’s arsenal of pitches, and the superlatives flow. But when the conversation shifts to the “gyroball” — something that seems to exist only as a computer simulation created by a pair of Japanese scientists — there is a mix of skepticism and flat-out disbelief. [...]
“I’ve heard about it all year,” said Bobby Valentine, who just finished his second season as manager of the Chiba Lotte Marines. “I’ve looked for it. I’ve looked for it on film. After he pitches, I’ve waited for players to start talking about the gyroball, and I’ve never heard anyone say it. You would think someone would mention it.”
