Antedating "the [baseball] yips"

[Joel S. Berson]

At 10/2/2010 04:12 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>At 4:00 PM -0400 10/2/10, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>Larry, did you find it also applied to a pitcher mis-throwing to
>>first (attempted pickoff, or on a bunt)?
>>
>>Joel
>
>Sounds plausible.  In the comment in my last paragraph above or the
>one below I was relying on memory, not the g-hits, of which I just
>glanced at the first page (which I where I was reminded of
>Knoblauch's carrying on the tradition) and then scrolled through to
>find the actual number of hits.  (I still don't understand where the
>"about n pages" mis-estimates come from.)  But mishaps for ta pitcher
>throwing to first would fit the criteria--what's crucial is that it
>involve an easy toss, not a challenging throw, and this is exactly
>the kind of toss that would be yip-prone.

A mention of pitchers at http://www.baseballconfidence.com/cb_articles.html

" I've also worked with several pitchers who are okay pitching, but
can't throw to bases.  I recently asked one stand out pitcher what
the most stressful part of the game was for him, and he said, "When
the catcher puts the sign down for me to  throw to first base." "

Another at
http://keitholbermann.mlblogs.com/archives/2009/05/no_mike_pelfrey_disease.html

" With Mike Pelfrey following his three-balk night of the "Yips" with
nothing more worrisome than forgetting to get off the rubber at
Fenway before asking umpire Joe West if he could blow on his fingers,
it appears the list of Major League victims of "Steve Blass Disease"
and its related maladies will remain at 17. "

But is "Steve Blass Disease" really "the yips"?  And was he the first
baseball player the term was applied to?  Wikipedia on Blass (major
leagues 1964-1974):

" Besides his [outstanding World] Series performance, Blass is best
known for his sudden and inexplicable loss of control after the 1972
season.[1] His ERA climbed to 9.81 in the 1973 season. He walked 84
batters in 88 innings, and struck out only 27. Blass suffered through
the 1973 season, then spent most of 1974 in the minor leagues. He
retired from baseball in March 1975.

" A condition referred to as "Steve Blass Disease" has become a part
of baseball lexicon. The "diagnosis" is applied to talented players
who seem to lose inexplicably and permanently their ability to
accurately throw a baseball.[2][1][3][4] "

Wikipedia does not include "yips" in this article.

Joel

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