Basics[]
The slurve is a baseball pitch in which the pitcher throws a slider as if it were a curveball. The term is a portmanteau of the words "slider" and "curve".
Critics of the slurve call the pitch a sloppy slider because of its wide break. They claim that the slurve produces more home runs than a late breaking slider. The usefulness of the slurve is debated. The slurve is also claimed to cause problems to a pitcher: in 1998 Kerry Wood claimed his elbow soreness was caused by throwing the slurve.