Scott Sullivan's sidearm delivery. (Yuli Wu file photo) | ZOOM |

        Judging by the enduring nature of sidearm and submarine-style pitchers — past greats Kent Tekulve, Dan Quisenberry, Dennis Eckersley and present-day Scott Sullivan of the Reds come to mind — one would think every aspiring big-league pitcher would have tried it.

        “My arm isn't equipped to throw on top,” Sullivan said. “It's uncomfortable for me. Even when I play long-toss, I throw everything from my sidearm slot.”

        But kid pitchers are so enamored with hard-throwing overhanders that they rarely try to throw sidearm or submarine, and those who do find it so hard to control and generate velocity that they usually give up. And the reason you see so few sidewinders and submariners in the big leagues today is their breaking pitches move more horizontally than the overhanders' breaking pitches that are harder to hit.

        On the other hand, hitters aren't used to seeing sidearmers — the ball is coming at them from a different angle than they're accustomed to — so the advantage goes to the pitcher.

        “Throwing sidearm is a lot harder than people think,” said Reds closer Danny Graves, who marvels at Sullivan's ability to keep his motion in sync.

        “I tried it when I was younger,” Graves said, “but my arm didn't feel right. I could never find that proper arm slot. It didn't feel healthy for me. Some guys can do it. A lot of guys can't. That's why you don't see many of them. Scott is constantly working on his mechanics. Throwing sidearm, you have so many different parts you have to have working in sync.”

        But if you find the proper arm slot and can keep it there, your pitching arm probably will last longer. It's why fast-pitch softball pitchers such as Eddie Feigner (the ancient star of “The King and His Court”) go on forever. The overhand and three-quarter motions are not the way the arm was built to throw.

        “If you look at the pitching motion in slow motion (of guys who throw overhand), it's the most unnatural motion you could possibly put your shoulder and elbow through,” Sullivan said. “You look at a still photo of it, and their elbow's here and their wrist is straight back. It's a tremendous amount of torque on your shoulder and elbow. My arm isn't equipped to throw on top. It's uncomfortable for me. Even when I play long-toss, I throw everything from my sidearm slot.”

        Nothing more than pure serendipity can account for why the Reds' Sullivan enters this season having led major-league relievers in innings pitched an unprecedented four straight years — instead of being addressed as Captain Scott Sullivan of the U.S. Army reserves.

        The thin gray line is where Sullivan was headed, rather than thin red pinstripes, if Auburn University baseball coach Hal Baird hadn't asked Sullivan to toss him a baseball that was lying 15 feet away in the outfield grass, where Sullivan was shagging balls during batting practice.

        Sullivan was an uninspiring outfielder/first baseman in junior college — Marion Military Institute in Alabama — who was a walk-on for Auburn's team as a pitcher because he figured that was his best chance.

        And he was right.

        What Baird saw when he first laid eyes on Sullivan, was a 6-foot-3, 210-pound guy with a non-moving overhand fastball that would be great for batting practice.

        But when Sullivan flipped that ball to him sidearm, Baird caught a glimpse of something different.

        Baird immediately called for one of Auburn's catchers, and then he called for Sully.

        “I want to try something with you,” said Baird, a former pitcher in the Kansas City Royals' minor-league system. “Throw sidearm to the catcher like you just threw to me. Throw that shoulder out there, and let your body and arm slide right on through.”

        Sullivan, it turned out, was a natural sidewinder.

        The more he threw that way, the more movement and velocity he picked up. Within three months, Sullivan was Auburn's closer and on an 80 percent scholarship — as much as an Auburn baseball player could get. He was no longer Army-bound, because he no longer needed his ROTC scholarship. So instead of dropping down and giving some ROTC drill sergeant 20 pushups, he was dropping down in his pitching motion and giving Coach Baird great pitches as the Auburn closer.

        Eventually Sullivan's career took an even bigger turn.

        “One day late in my sophomore spring at Auburn, I was messing around at shortstop during batting practice and Coach Baird came up to me and said, "You might have a chance to play elsewhere,'” Sullivan said. “I said, "Whaddaya mean? Like summer ball or something?' He said, "No, pro ball.' I was like, "What?' I couldn't believe how fast it was all happening.”

        Sullivan was chosen by the Reds in the second round of the June 1993 free agent draft after graduating from Auburn with a business degree. He had 81 strikeouts in 60 1/3 innings with the Tigers as a senior.

        Had Sullivan gone on with ROTC, his Army obligation after graduating from Auburn would have been two years of active duty and eight years of reserve. He might have seen more of the world in the military than he has seen with the Reds, but pro baseball has been enough of an eye-opening experience for the rural Alabama country boy — starting with Billings, Mont., then going on to Chattanooga, Tenn.; Indianapolis and the big leagues.

        After Baird saw Sullivan's success, he became more inclined when seeing an ineffective Auburn overhand pitcher to ask him to consider throwing sidearm.

        “It worked for several other guys after I left school,” said Sullivan, “and one of those guys set the (Southeastern Conference) record for saves throwing sidearm.”

        Sidearmers typically don't need power to be effective.

        Sullivan said his “two-seam” fastball (a shorthand description of the grip) travels about 85-87 mph and, when it's working, it sinks. His four-seam fastball travels 87-89 mph, and when it's working, it “cuts” (runs sharply sideways). Those fastballs are a couple of miles per hour slower than what most big-league pitchers throw, and they're pretty typical for sidearmers and submariners. But there are exceptions.

        In his prime, Eckersley threw hard. And two other sidearmers — Hall of Famer Walter Johnson and former Red Ewell Blackwell — were mid- to high-90s guys who were among the most dominant pitchers of all time.

        Former Reds pitcher Joe Nuxhall said Blackwell's arm angle was at most just a bit lower than Sullivan's but Blackwell stepped more toward third base, which made his approach to the hitter “even wider.” It presented a frightening proposition to right-handed batters trying to hang in the box, especially against Blackwell's curveball.

        “Blackie was 6-6 and he had those big ol' long arms,” Nuxhall said. “He threw hard, and when he threw that curveball of his, it was coming at the right-handed hitters from down the third-base line. It was nasty. I saw Blackie pitch the (second) game when he almost pitched back-to-back no-hitters. It was against the Dodgers at Crosley Field.

        “Every (right-handed) hitter I ever talked to hated to hit off him,” Nuxie said. “(Hall of Famer) Roy Campanella would ask Blackie before the Dodgers-Reds series, "What day you pitching?' and then tell the Dodgers' backup catcher when to expect a start. Campy could always predict on what days he'd be sick. He'd say, "I got a bad case of Blackwell-itis.'”

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