Baseball's last legal spitball was thrown by Burleigh Arland Grimes of the New York Yankees on Sept. 20, 1934. Now 74 and a gentleman farmer in Trenton, Mo., Grimes has long since forgotten 1) to whom he threw the ball, and 2) what happened. Calvin Lee Koonce has no such problem. He clearly recalls throwing his last spitball to Johnny Callison of the Philadelphia Phillies, who grounded into a force play. Koonce's memory may be due to the fact that he is only 26, still pitches for the New York Mets—and threw his...
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