Downs threw four pitches: a standard four-seam fastball, a changeup, a curveball, and a slider, whose development he credited to his Spartanburg manager—Hall of Famer, Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame member, and perfect game pitcher Jim Bunning.
His second album, Curveball, came out in 1990 and featured Victor Lewis on drums; Charnett Moffett on bass and Steve Nelson on vibes.
He possessed an outstanding curveball, but he was overshadowed by his more flamboyant teammate Satchel Paige.
Once known to throw a power curveball, he gave this pitch up and learned a slider at the request of his former pitching coach Rick Peterson.
Watanabe's curve is very slow, clocking around 60 mph, somewhat similar to the curveball of Washington Nationals pitcher Liván Hernández (which actually is more like an eephus pitch).
Bill James and Rob Neyer report Nolan has having thrown an unusually fast (for his day) underhand fastball and a combination of curveballs.
Candy Cummings is reputed to have thrown the first ever curveball pitch in Worcester in 1867 while playing for the Brooklyn Stars.