Editing Dave Stieb (section)

== Pitching style ==
Stieb entered the league primarily as a [[power pitcher]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Goodman |first=Michael E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=68YMz5j31eAC&pg=PT12 |title=The History of the Toronto Blue Jays |publisher=The Creative Company |year=2002 |isbn=978-1-58341-227-5 |page=PT12 |access-date=March 17, 2010}}</ref> relying on a high, inside [[fastball]] to strike batters out.  The [[brushback pitch]] was an integral part of his repertoire to back batters off the plate,<ref>{{cite book |last=Shofner |first=Shawndra |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JR7wkxO3xU8C&pg=PA10 |title=The Story of the Toronto Blue Jays |publisher=The Creative Company |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-58341-503-0 |page=10 |access-date=March 17, 2010}}</ref> and was especially tough on right-handed hitters in this respect. As a result, he was the leader in [[Hit by pitch|hit batsmen]] in the American League in 1981, 1983, 1984, 1986, and 1989, and he was in the top three in 1985, 1988, and 1990.<ref name=":1" /> But arguably his best pitch was his [[Slider (baseball)|slider]] that had a late and very sharp break, especially difficult for right-handed batters to handle; modern commentators have characterized this pitch as a "[[sweeper (baseball)|sweeper]]," though the term was not in use during Stieb's career.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Laurila |first1=David |title=AD AD Pablo López Added a Sweeper (If That's What You Care To Call It) |url=https://blogs.fangraphs.com/pablo-lopez-added-a-sweeper-if-thats-what-you-care-to-call-it/ |website=Fangraphs |date=21 April 2023 |access-date=4 June 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|last=Foolish Baseball|title=Why the SWEEPER Is Taking Over MLB 1 Baseball Bits |date=2023-05-27|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwMot7JOjCI |access-date=2023-06-04}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Later on in his career he developed his breaking ball repertoire, and he became very effective with a "dead fish" [[curveball]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Shofner |first=Shawndra |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JR7wkxO3xU8C&pg=PA12 |title=The Story of the Toronto Blue Jays |publisher=The Creative Company |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-58341-503-0 |page=12 |access-date=March 17, 2010}}</ref> that would break into the dirt as the batter swung.

Stieb had a high-strung personality and was known as a fierce competitor on the mound; he was regularly seen having animated conversations with himself between pitches when in difficult situations. Whereas with other pitchers this would be seen as a sign of weakness, with Stieb it was perceived as the best way to motivate himself to get out of a jam.  Early in his career, Stieb would also frequently yell at his teammates after errors, for plays that he thought they should have made.<ref name="Fimrite" /> His personality also did not endear him to baseball writers, according to columnist [[Stephen Brunt]]:

{{blockquote|He was angry. Eventually, you figured out that he was almost always angry. Some teammate had let him down by not making a play, some writer had written something that had struck him as unfair or, more likely, he was beating himself up for a pitch not made, for some minor imperfection. A shrink might have found him a sympathetic figure, but among a bunch of sports writers feeling a deadline approach and waiting forever for Stieb to deign to speak to them, there were few warm thoughts.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Brunt |first1=Stephen |title=Brunt: Catching up with Stieb no easy feat |url=https://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/brunt-catching-up-with-stieb-no-easy-feat/ |agency=[[Sportsnet]] |date=Aug 29, 2015}}</ref>}}

In later years, Stieb mellowed somewhat, although a fierce glare after a botched play was still not uncommon.