screwball
American Heritage Dictionary:
Top
screw·ball
(skrū'bôl') 
n.
Impulsively whimsical; eccentric: That screwball proposal won't work.
n.
- Baseball. A pitched ball that curves in the direction opposite to that of a normal curve ball.
- Slang. An eccentric, impulsively whimsical, or irrational person.
Impulsively whimsical; eccentric: That screwball proposal won't work.
Related Videos:
Top
screwball
Roget's Thesaurus:
Top
screwball
noun
- A person regarded as strange, eccentric, or crazy: crackpot, crazy, eccentric, lunatic. Informal crank, loon, loony. Slang cuckoo, ding-a-ling, dingbat, kook, nut, weirdie, weirdo. See wise/foolish.
adjective
- Deviating from the customary: bizarre, cranky, curious, eccentric, erratic, freakish, idiosyncratic, odd, outlandish, peculiar, quaint, queer, quirky, singular, strange, unnatural, unusual, weird. Slang kooky. British Slang rum, rummy2. See usual/unusual.
Oxford Dictionary of Modern Slang:
Top
screwball
noun
noun, jazz
1: Someone eccentric or crazy; a fool. (1933 —) .
P. G. Wodehouse You are going to Blandings Castle now, no doubt, to inspect some well-connected screwball (1939).
2: Fast improvisation or unrestrained swing; oftenattrib . (1936 — 47).
R. P. Dodge When inspiration leaves the player...he becomes what is known as a screw-ball player. I must say that I prefer the jump style to the screw-ball style (1947).adjective
3: Eccentric; mad, crazy. (1936 —) .
[From the earlier US sense, a baseball pitched with reverse spin against the natural curve.]
noun, jazz
1: Someone eccentric or crazy; a fool. (1933 —) .
P. G. Wodehouse You are going to Blandings Castle now, no doubt, to inspect some well-connected screwball (1939).
2: Fast improvisation or unrestrained swing; often
R. P. Dodge When inspiration leaves the player...he becomes what is known as a screw-ball player. I must say that I prefer the jump style to the screw-ball style (1947).
3: Eccentric; mad, crazy. (1936 —) .
[From the earlier US sense, a baseball pitched with reverse spin against the natural curve.]
| screw, screenager, screech | |
| screwer, screwmatics, screwsman |
Random House Word Menu:
Top
categories related to 'screwball'
- Baseball - screwball: a pitch gripped as if a curve ball and thrown as if a fastball which has an action opposite to that of a curve ball
- Behavior or Personality
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
Top
Screwball
This article is about the baseball pitch. For other uses, see Screwball (disambiguation).
A screwball (also known as the screwgie), is a baseball pitch that is thrown so as to break in the opposite direction of a slider or curveball. Depending on the pitcher's arm angle, the ball may also have a sinking action.
Carl Hubbell was one of the most renowned screwball pitchers in the history of Major League Baseball.[1] Hubbell was known as the "scroogie king" for his mastery of the pitch and the frequency for which he threw it. Other famous screwball artists included Cy Young Award winners Mike Cuellar, Fernando Valenzuela and Mike Marshall.
Effects
When thrown by a right-handed pitcher, a screwball breaks from left to right from the point of view of the pitcher; the pitch therefore moves down and in on a right-handed batter and down and away from a left-handed batter. When thrown by a left-handed pitcher, a screwball breaks from right to left, moving down and in on a left-handed batter and down and away from a right-handed batter. Due to this left-to-right movement of the ball (when thrown by a right-handed pitcher), right-handed pitchers use a screwball against left-handed batters in the same way that they use a slider against right-handed batters.
Screwball pitchers
One of the first great screwball pitchers was Christy Mathewson (1900–1916), whose pitch was then labeled as the 'fadeaway'. Other major league pitchers who have thrown the screwball during their careers include:
- Carl Hubbell[2]
- Cy Blanton[3]
- Luis Arroyo[4]
- Jack Baldschun[5]
- Bobby Castillo (taught the pitch to Valenzuela[6])
- Mike Cuellar[7]
- Warren Spahn (in the second half of his career)
- Jim Brewer
- Mel Parnell
- Mike Norris
- Juan Marichal
- Mike Marshall
- Fernando Valenzuela
- Tug McGraw
- Willie Hernandez
- Jim Mecir
- Pedro Martinez[8]
- Jeff Sparks
- Daniel Ray Herrera [9]
- Dallas Braden[10]
- Yoshinori Tateyama
- Hector Santiago
References
- ^ "Carl Hubbell". Sports Reference LLC.. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hubbeca01.shtml. Retrieved 2000-2010.
- ^ Hubbell Out For Season, New York Times, August 24, 1938, pg. 26.
- ^ Blanton, Pirates, Stops Dodgers, 8-2, New York Times, May 19, 1935, pg. S5.
- ^ Arroyo:Artist of Yankee Bullpen, New York Times, August 21, 1960, pg. S2.
- ^ Orioles Get Baldschun of Phillies, New York Times, December 7, 1965, pg. 61.
- ^ http://www.baseballreliquary.org/InductionDay2006_review.htm
- ^ Roundup: Cuellar Holds Showing of Old Art Form, New York Times, June 12, 1970, pg. 43.
- ^ http://espn.go.com/gammons/s/2001/0212/1079272.html
- ^ http://multimedia.foxsports.com/m/video/25977947/the-herrera-screwball.htm
- ^ "Unheralded Braden keeps making us believe this is his defining year". CNN. May 10, 2010. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/joe_posnanski/05/09/dallas.braden/index.html?xid=cnnbin&hpt=Sbin.
|
|||||||||||||||||
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Translations:
Top
Screwball
Dansk (Danish)
n. - skør kugle, original, excentrisk person, skruebold
adj. - skør, tosset, gal
Nederlands (Dutch)
mafkees, idioot
Français (French)
n. - cinglé
adj. - cinglé
Deutsch (German)
n. - (Slang) Spinner
adj. - spleenig
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - παλαβιάρης, (αθλοπ.) μπαλιά με ανάποδο φάλτσο
adj. - θεοπάλαβος
Português (Portuguese)
n. - pessoa excêntrica (f)
Русский (Russian)
сумасброд, чокнутый, сумасбродство, эксцентричность
Español (Spanish)
n. - excéntrico, chiflado
adj. - excéntrico, chiflado
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - skruvboll, knasboll, galning
adj. - knasig, galen, knäpp
中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
怪人, 曲线球, 略带神经病的人, 怪僻的, 精神有点怪的, 奇妙的
中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 怪人, 曲線球, 略帶神經病的人
adj. - 怪僻的, 精神有點怪的, 奇妙的
한국어 (Korean)
n. - 괴짜, 기인, 스크루볼 (변화구의 일종)
adj. - 별난, 엉뚱한, 엉터리의
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) غريب ألاطوار (صفه) أحمق
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - מטורף
adj. - מטורף, תמהוני
If you are unable to view some languages clearly, click here.
Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:
Copyrights:
American Heritage Dictionary
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Read more
Roget's Thesaurus
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 byHoughton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Read more
Oxford Dictionary of Modern Slang
Oxford University Press. © 1997, 2008, 2010
All rights reserved.
Read more
Random House Word Menu
© 2010 Write Brothers Inc. Word Menu is a registered trademark of the Estate of Stephen Glazier.
Write Brothers Inc.
All rights reserved.
Read more
Wikipedia on Answers.com
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Screwball.
Read more
Mentioned in
Screwball
(Rap Band, '90s, 2000s)
Hilfe, Meine Braut Klaut
(1964 Film)
Christmas in Connecticut
(2009 Comedy Film)
Slippery Slope
(2007 Comedy Film)
» More