#271 - Daily MG - MVP Machine by Ben Lindbergh and Travis Sawchik - 5 of 6

"In 1988, Braves pitcher Tom Glavine led the major leagues in losses. But in the spring of ’89, while standing in the outfield during batting practice, he picked up a ball that rolled toward him and happened to grip it in an unusual way, with his middle and ring fingers along the seams. He threw it into the infield, and the release felt right. He’d discovered his signature circle changeup. “If I hadn’t found that pitch, picked up the ball that way… I don’t know,” Glavine told Sports Illustrated in 1992. In 1991, he’d led the majors in wins, and twenty-five years after his pitching epiphany, he entered the Hall of Fame."

"More happily, Hall of Famer Harry Heilmann was a run-of-the-mill regular for several seasons before his Detroit Tigers teammate Ty Cobb, newly named to the position of player-manager in 1921, had him back up in the batter’s box, move his feet closer together, hold his hands farther away from his body, and crouch while waiting for the pitch. Using the new stance, Heilmann surpassed Cobb to become the most potent hitter of the next ten years not named Ruth or Hornsby." - Travis Lindbergh