Antedating "the [baseball] yips"

Sun Oct 3 00:09:48 UTC 2010

On 10/2/10 7:48 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
> At 4:32 PM -0400 10/2/10, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>> 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.
>>
> I say no, Steve Blass Disease (which I remember well, having been a
> Pirate fan at the time) is not the Yips; as noted, I believe the Yips
> are related to easy tosses that ought to be automatic, which of
> course applies to the golf cases as well, mutatis mutandis, not for
> actual pitches, or throws from the outfield or the left (shortstop/3d
> base) side of the infield, or from the catcher when intended to
> retire a base runner rather than just return the ball to the pitcher.
> I'm glad to see that the (equally inexplicable) loss of control
> associated with Blass is not referred to as the Yips in the Wikipedia
> piece on Blass, but I regret to acknowledge that my resistance is not
> widely shared, to judge from the plethora of hits on "the yips" +
> "Steve Blass". As far as the provenance, I do recall that in the
> mid-70's the reporters couldn't remember a real predecessor for the
> Blass case, whence the eponym (sometimes abbreviated to SAD, not to
> be confused with seasonal affective disorder, even if it does usually
> strike in the summer).

As a Mets fan, the most excruciating case of the yips I ever had to
watch was catcher Mackey Sasser, who could throw out runners trying to
steal, but couldn't throw the ball back to the pitcher.
<http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/2010/04/27/2010-04-27_zaun_battles_sasserlike_yips_vs_pirates.html>

Also, cross-sports:
<http://bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/06/02/4448291-yipes-its-yips-condition-throws-catchers-game>

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