The coincidence is that I had this in mind while looking up Birdsong's figures and discovered that these three pitchers happen to have three of the top 25 curveballs - according to Run Value - in Major League Baseball.
The idea is that every base-out situation has a run potential. And after the event, the new base-out provides a new run potential. The CHANGE in those run potential is what we attribute to the event.
This is why I don't love the Run Value stat - context fluctuates game to game, year to year - but at least in terms of analyzing what has happened, it's solid and another way to evaluate individual pitches beyond spin and velocity.
I called their curveballs 'most valuable' rather than best. While results of their usage would be a logical fact, Run Value provides a way to approach their effectiveness.
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