An Ode to Knuckleball Pitchers



Tim Wakefield throwing the knuckleball. [Photo credit: Waldo Jaquith]

To the best pitch in baseball, and the guys who throw it.  This says it better than I can:

There's just something about the knuckleball.
Something unique. Something workman-like. Something that makes us love and respect the pitcher who can make a career out of throwing that strange, fluttery pitch at the highest level. I suspect that it's the humanity of the pitch that draws us to it. Not only does it's slow-moving, take-it-as-it-is nature make us all feel like we could throw it ourselves, but the hit-or-miss success that even the best knuckleballer achieves really helps us identify with him. If anyone in the major leagues is the "everyman", it's the knuckler.

I've only met one guy who hates knuckleball pitchers, and he's a Cubs fan, so what can you expect.  He said he could hit a knuckleball, but he couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat.

Here's a list attempting to include all knuckleball pitchers is baseball history.

One time when Jared Fernandez was scheduled to pitch for the Reds, I took the day off work to go watch him, but the night before, the Reds traded for Brian Mohler, and he started for them instead.  That sucked.  Anytime Wakefield is pitching on TV (anytime the Sox are playing the Yankees, since every NY-Boston game is televised), I have to watch him pitch.  When he's on, there's nothing better than watching the knuckler dance in slow motion.  Any discussion of knuckleball pitchers is incomplete without mentioning Phil Niekro, the pride of Belmont County, Ohio.  You just can't argue with 318 wins. 

Here are some quotes about the knuckleball:

• "They say you don't want to have a knuckleballer pitching for you or against you" - Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, quoted in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, August 4, 1987.
• "I always thought the knuckleball was the easiest pitch to catch. Wait'll it stops rolling, then go to the backstop and pick it up." ― broadcaster and former catcher Bob Uecker
• "You don't catch a knuckleball, you defend against it." ― Retired Dodgers manager and former catcher Joe Torre
• "Trying to hit against Phil Niekro is like trying to eat Jell-O with chopsticks". ― All-star outfielder Bobby Murcer
• "I never worry about it. I just take my three swings and go sit on the bench. I'm afraid if I ever think about hitting it, I'll mess up my swing for life." ― All-star first baseman Dick Allen
• "There are two theories on hitting a knuckleball. Unfortunately, neither of them works." ― famed hitting coach Charlie Lau
• "You know, catching the knuckleball, it's like trying to catch a fly with a chopstick." ― All-star and Gold Glove catcher Jason Varitek
• "If it's high, let it fly. If it's low, let it go." ―Common saying describing how to approach hitting the knuckleball.
• "Throwing a knuckleball for a strike is like throwing a butterfly with hiccups across the street into your neighbor's mailbox." ― Hall of Famer Willie Stargell
• "For a knuckleballer, a pitch count of 150 is not a problem. Unless it's the first inning." ― Dave Clark, author of The Knucklebook
• "Like some cult religion that barely survives, there has always been at least one but rarely more than five or six devotees throwing the knuckleball in the big leagues... Not only can't pitchers control it, hitters can't hit it, catchers can't catch it, coaches can't coach it, and most pitchers can't learn it. The perfect pitch." ― Ron Luciano, former AL umpire
• "Hitting Niekro's knuckleball is like eating soup with a fork." ― Richie Hebner
• "You're not expected to hit it. [I am] expected to catch it." ― John Flaherty summing up his day catching Tim Wakefield in a spring training game against the Twins by relaying a comment made by fellow catcher Mike Redmond. Flaherty retired the next day.
• "Knuckleballs suck." ― Geno Petralli after giving up four passed balls in one inning
• "It's not a pitch to be mastered but only executed the best you can. Charlie Hough told me he learned the pitch in one day and spent a lifetime learning how to throw it for strikes." R.A. Dickey, knuckleball pitcher of the Mets, on the knuckleball.

Finally, The Ballad of Tim Wakefield: