'Grandfathered' Spitball Pitchers
From Martin Quigley, The Crooked Pitch, Algonquin, 1984, 1988. Chapter 14 of this book is entitled "The Once Honest, But for Long Crooked, Spitter and Its Various Nefarious Cousins." Quigley quotes from a 1955 George Hildebrand interview on the origin of the spitball.
The following pitchers were allowed to continue throwing the spitball until the end of their careers, even though the pitch was banned in early 1920. They are listed alphabetically, along with their 'sponsoring' club (their teams in 1920, which submitted their names for the exception) and their final year of pitching in the major leagues. Each team could sponsor a maximum of two pitchers.
| National League: | ||
| 1929 | Bill Doak, St. Louis Cardinals | |
| 1922 | Phil Douglas, New York Giants | |
| 1925 | Dana Fillingim, Boston Braves | |
| 1920 | Ray Fisher, Cincinnati Reds | |
| 1925 | Marvin Goodwin, St. Louis Cardinals | |
| 1934 | Burleigh Grimes, Brooklyn Dodgers | |
| 1932 | Clarence Mitchell, Brooklyn Dodgers | |
| 1927 | Dick Rudolph, Boston Braves | |
| American League: | ||
| 1921 | Yancy ‘Doc’ Ayers, Detroit Tigers | |
| 1921 | Ray Caldwell, Cleveland Indians | |
| 1928 | Stan Coveleski, Cleveland Indians | |
| 1933 | Urban ‘Red’ Faber, Chicago White Sox | |
| 1925 | Hubert ‘Dutch’ Leonard, Detroit Tigers | |
| 1933 | John Picus Quinn, New York Yankees | |
| 1925 | Allen Russell, Boston Red Sox | |
| 1928 | Urban Shocker, St. Louis Browns | |
| 1926 | Allen Sothoron, St. Louis Browns | |