New sculpture in Ridgetown celebrates its role in baseball history

CBC News

· Posted: Jul 14, 2025 5:00 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours ago

A caller wood carving successful Ridgetown honours the relation of a section shot leader successful inventing the slider.

Harry O'Neill pitched 2 seasons with the Philadelphia Athletics successful the aboriginal 1920s and is credited by immoderate sources with processing the pitch, which curves sideways conscionable earlier it reaches the batter.

The sculpture is of a gigantic woody manus holding a shot with a shot mitt adjacent to it and "Home of the slider pitch" engraved connected the arm.

"We're not done yet," said Ridgetown Independent News steadfast Jim Brown, who initiated the project.

"We've got a plaque to spell along, and we privation to enactment immoderate location bases successful to benignant of springiness it a walkway to it."

Philadelphia Athletics pitcher George Blaeholder is often credited with inventing the slider.

But Brown, who is besides with the BIA, disputes that mentation of history. 

"Perhaps determination was different pitcher that made it much fashionable due to the fact that helium had a longer career," Brown said. 

"But this is the originator. Harry showed them however to propulsion the slider years agone successful Ridgetown. It's thing that helium precise apt passed connected to idiosyncratic erstwhile helium was down successful Philadelphia."

The chainsaw sculptor down the statue, Mike Winia, agreed.

"This is the location of the slider pitch," helium said.

"Even though galore radical retired determination each implicit and adjacent successful the States assertion fame to it, the world is, erstwhile you spell backmost into the past books, and you spell back, back, back, it leads you here."