Lewis Howard "Hicks" Moren (August 4, 1883 – November 2, 1966) was a
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
pitcher. He pitched six seasons from 1903 to 1910: two seasons with the
Pittsburgh Pirates and four seasons with the
Philadelphia Phillies. In 1908, Moren was credited by the ''New York Press'' for inventing the
knuckleball
A knuckleball or knuckler is a baseball pitch thrown to minimize the spin of the ball in flight, causing an erratic, unpredictable motion. The air flow over a seam of the ball causes the ball to change from laminar to turbulent flow. This cha ...
; however
Eddie Cicotte
Edward Victor Cicotte (; June 19, 1884 – May 5, 1969), nicknamed "Knuckles", was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball best known for his time with the Chicago White Sox. He was one of eight players permanently ineligible f ...
is today more often cited as the inventor of the pitch. Moren retired with a career record of 48 wins, 57 losses, and a 2.95
earned run average
In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...
.
Moren committed suicide in
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...
,
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
by slitting his throat.
See also
*
List of knuckleball pitchers
Knuckleball pitchers are baseball players who rely on the knuckleball as their primary pitch, or pitch primarily based on their ability to throw a knuckleball. The inventor of the knuckleball has never been established, although several pitchers f ...
References
External links
*
1883 births
1966 suicides
Major League Baseball pitchers
Pittsburgh Pirates players
Philadelphia Phillies players
Atlanta Crackers players
Jersey City Skeeters players
Duquesne Dukes baseball players
Knuckleball pitchers
Baseball players from Pittsburgh
Suicides by sharp instrument in the United States
Suicides in Pennsylvania
Burials at Homewood Cemetery
1966 deaths
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