The Submarine

According to baseball reference (https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Pitches#Pitching_motions), The submarine pitching style comes from an arm angle even lower than sidearm. Before releasing the ball, the pitcher drops his shoulder towards the earth and whips his arm, much like a softball pitcher. Depending on the pitch used, the ball might have little to a lot of movement. Submarine pitchers are most effective against same-handed batters because the ball looks like it is rising or running in on the hands. Submarine pitching can still be effective on opposite-handed batters because of the tailing action which makes the ball run away from the batter.


Harry Hay apparently was pretty good at it. According to The San Antonio Light, he won 50 of 54 games in one season.  The Indianapolis News reports this same news under the title, Pitcher Hay's Record Good and adds an extra line that says (in bold) "...pitched fifty-four games last season and won all but four of them, according to the records as kept by himself."

San Antonio Light, 26 December 1907 

The Muncie Evening Press (Indiana) said that Harry Hay's "raise ball is known and feared all over Indiana" (2 June 1907.)  The "raise ball" or the upshoot was a pitch thrown by "....submarine-style pitchers...it is essentially an inverted sinker" according to Peter Morris, author of A game of Inches: The Story Behind The Innovations That Shaped Baseball.

I don't really know if Harry Hay was ever given a tryout with the Cincinnati Reds, but he must have been good enough to at least generate the rumors.  Check out this article from the Palladium-Item (Richmond, Indiana) from October 18, 1907 that thought it might happen.

When Harry Hay's death was reported, several different newspapers reported that he did play big lead baseball.  I contacted someone from the Reds organization and they said they had no record of a Harry Hay playing for them.  My personal opinion is that he didn't play for the Reds-he just pitched against them and won.  

Alton Evening telegraph, 6 May 1924

Other newspapers that reported that Harry Hay played ball for the Cincinnati Reds were Des Moines (IA), Oakland Tribune (CA), Casper Star-Tribune (WY), Chicago Tribune and several other Indiana & Illinois newspapers.  My assumption is that the original source was just repated over and over and never verified.  An early example of fake news?