As an Orioles fan, you might have heard the June 3rd announcement from MLB that “foreign substances” were now to be banned from the mound and gone, “Oh, so this group is going to get worse now? Cool.”
At one point, the relationship between literal sticky fingers and good pitching was not obvious to most fans, but these days, plenty of former pitchers are willing to pull back the curtain to explain the basic idea. Recently, former Braves relief pitcher Peter Moylan did in a very good segment on MLB Tonight: when the ball sticks to your fingers, he explained, you don’t have to use any pressure to get it to roll off in a way that creates spin.