A pitched ball in throwing which the pitcher grips the ball between two, or three, fingers on one side (which is made slippery, as by saliva) and the thumb on the other side, and delivers it so that it slips off the fingers with the least possible friction
an illegal pitch in which a foreign substance (spit or Vaseline) is applied to the ball by the pitcher before he throws it a projectile made by chewing a piece of paper and shaping it into a sphere