In 1924, a doctor in Ferris, Texas, who specialized in obstetrics noticed a certain drug prevented patients from creating rationalizations. The patients revealed only what they considered to be true. Robert Ernest House discovered what soon came to be known as “truth serum,” often known under the trademarked name Sodium Pentathol.
The full count pitch is the Sodium Pentathol of pitching. It reveals the truth about what a pitcher feels about his stuff. When you have exhausted the tree of possible pitch counts to its last limb—when there are no more pitches to waste and you must throw a competitive pitch—what will you throw? Your choice says much about who you are as a pitcher.
I’ve long been fascinated by full counts. I remember how Bobby Valentine, after managing in Nippon Pro Baseball, said the full count was regarded with such honor in Japan that pitchers strove to steer at bats toward the 3-and-2 pitch. It is considered the epitome of the art of war between the pitcher and batter.
