Candy Cummings

<p> One of the greatest pitchers of his era William Arthur Candy Cummings was born in 1848 when baseball was in its infancy. In the 1870s Candy's invention the curveball played a transformative role and earned him a place in the Hall of Fame. Drawing on extensive research this first full-length biography traces Candy's New England heritage and chronicles his rise to the top from pitching for amateur teams in mid-1860s Brooklyn to playing in the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players--the first major league--and then the newly-formed National League. A critical examination of the evidence and competing claims reveals that Cummings was indeed the originator of the curveball.</p>