eephus

English

Alternative forms
  • eephus pitch (common full name)
  • ephus

Etymology

The naming of the pitch is generally credited to Maurice Van Robays in 1942, who said "it's a nothin' pitch, and eephus ain't nothing'"[1]. However, it is not clear what the source for the name is; possibly Hebrew אפס‎ (“nothing, zero”).

Noun

eephus (plural not attested)

  1. (baseball) An off-speed pitch with unusually low velocity, intended to catch the hitter off guard.
    • 2003, Michael Seidel, Ted Williams: a baseball life:
      Sewell was determined to live or die by the eephus.
    • 2004, Fred Cicetti, Saltwater Taffy: A Summer at the Jersey Shore:
      He figured that, if it were another eephus, he'd have time to react.
    • 2005, Randy Roberts, The rock, the curse, and the hub: a random history of Boston sports:
      When, on his first pitch, Sewell served an eephus, Williams almost broke his back trying to get to it.

References
  1. 2005, Jonathan Fraser Light, The Cultural Encyclopedia of Baseball, 2d ed. page 287, column 2

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