The story
- Hebrew · borrowed fromאפס“nothing, zero”
- English todayeephus
The naming of the pitch is generally credited to Maurice Van Robays in 1942, who said "it's a nothin' pitch, and eephus ain't nothing'". However, it is not clear what the source for the name is; possibly Hebrew אפס (“nothing, zero”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.