Peanuts Begins by Charles Schulz for July 23, 2018

I did not know he could throw those other pitches either. I have never heard of most of those pitches.

Yes you can, Charlie. Your “drop” is also known as a “fumble”.

Not the old “One finger’s a fastball, two is a curve” drill, is it?

“And if I hold my middle finger up…well, you know.” ;-)

But you can throw a game.

Or any other pitch.

The joke here is that the drop ball is a relatively basic curveball that should be easy for Charlie Brown to throw if he has no trouble with the much more complicated pitches Schroeder goes over first.

No pitch actually rises, it’s impossible.

“No, Charlie Brown, I mean that you should immediately drop to the ground after throwing the ball so you don’t get all your clothes removed by the return hit, we’re all tired of seeing you in your undies!”

In a later one, Schroeder says to Charlie Brown: “One finger will mean a high straight ball. Two fingers will mean a low straight ball.” (Then again, one time Charlie Brown threw a ball clear over the backstop, and almost hit Lucy’s mother……)