Sport: The Whole Story of Pitching

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"You don't have to make a fantastic proposition out of anybody. I live and pitch by a few basic rules. You don't have to make a big study of batters beforehand. When I have good stuff I throw four fast balls out of five pitches. You can basically confuse yourself by typing each hitter or worrying too much about righthanders and lefthanders. I don't have any special trouble with lefthanders."

If he has any trouble at all, says Roberts, it is his shallow curve. "I'm always hoping I can improve that curve. I must have changed that curve nine or ten times. I'll see Maglie throw and say, 'Gee, it'd be nice to have that curve.' But if I try to throw it that way, it hurts my arm. Mainly I try to count on a good fast ball that moves.

"Anyway, when you take up a hitter in a clubhouse meeting, no matter what his weakness is, it's going to end up low and away or high and tight, and the curve ball must be thrown below the belt. That's the whole story of pitching.

"It don't do me a bit of good to tell people this. I try to tell people and they just won't believe me. They want to believe you have everyone taped and baseball is like mathematics or something. But I'm telling the truth. It's like I say, keep your life and your pitching real simple and you'll get along."