Whats the Gyroball and Does Dice-K Have It?
to be one word that follows him: gyroball. In 2006 the Boston Red Sox bid $51.11 million for the right to negotiate with Daisuke Matsuzaka. Yes, $51.11 million just for the right to negotiate with him. He later signed on with the team for an additional $52 million, six-year contract. The new Boston Red Sox player is now better known by his nickname, Dice-K. So what’s Dice-K got that the Red Sox want so badly? For starters, he spent eight years with Japan’s Seibu Lions, earned Japan’s equivalent of the Cy Young Award, led Pacific League victories, and was MVP of the World Baseball Classic last year. Dice-K has been a star player since back in his days at Yokohama High where he pitched a no-hitter game in the national championship in 1998. There’s one more important thing about Dice-K: he claims to know how to throw the mythical gyroball. The gyroball is potentially the first new pitch to hit the major league scene since the split-finger fastball was first thrown by Bruce Sutter in 1976.
becoming legendary, and he’s only 26. Everywhere he goes, there seems to be one word that follows him: gyroball. In 2006 the Boston Red Sox bid $51.11 million for the right to negotiate with Daisuke Matsuzaka. Yes, $51.11 million just for the right to negotiate with him. He later signed on with the team for an additional $52 million, six-year contract. The new Boston Red Sox player is now better known by his nickname, Dice-K. So what’s Dice-K got that the Red Sox want so badly? For starters, he spent eight years with Japan’s Seibu Lions, earned Japan’s equivalent of the Cy Young Award, led Pacific League victories, and was MVP of the World Baseball Classic last year. Dice-K has been a star player since back in his days at Yokohama High where he pitched a no-hitter game in the national championship in 1998. There’s one more important thing about Dice-K: he claims to know how to throw the mythical gyroball. The gyroball is potentially the first new pitch to hit the major league scene sin
