MLB Offseason 2020-21: I'm a Hall of Famer baseball person

The article said the only knucklers thrown last year were by position players. Not sure if those were intentional or just a product of not being a pitcher.

There was a Steven Wright in Boston as of 2019, but he was apparently injured and/or suspended. He's the only one listed as active ATM. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_knuckleball_pitchers

 

The last one that I can recall that had any real success was Tim Wakefield.

 

Knuckleballers are few and far between, but that wobbly thing that floats out of their hand has spawned a litany of witty quotations, whether about throwing it, hitting it, catching it and the nature of the pitch itself. And the knuckleball is like poetry in its own right -- only it wouldn't rhyme, due to its unpredictable nature.

Former American League umpire Ron Luciano once said, "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." (That's more like a soliloquy than a pithy quote so that won't make the list.)

Jim Bouton, of course, once wrote a whole book, Ball Four, based on his season with the Seattle Pilots in 1969, when he attempted to reinvent himself as a knuckleball pitcher, and that is probably the most quote-worthy book in the annals of baseball tomes.

So, in honor of R.A. Dickey making his first All-Star team and being named the NL Pitcher of the Month for June (5-0, 0.93 ERA), here are the Top 5 quotes about that wily of all pitches, the knuckleball. And Dickey himself said, "I think there's a lot of misunderstanding about it. A lot of times I think it gets a bad rap as far as the unpredictability goes, and the fact that people don't feel like it's a trustworthy pitch."

5. Charley Lau: "There are two theories on hitting the knuckleball. Unfortunately, neither of them works."

4. Jason Varitek: "You know, catching the knuckleball, it's like trying to catch a fly with a chopstick."

3. Bob Uecker: "The way to catch a knuckleball is to wait until it stops rolling and then pick it up."

2. Richie Hebner: "Hitting Niekro's knuckleball is like eating soup with a fork."

1. Willie Stargell: "Throwing a knuckleball for a strike is like throwing a butterfly with hiccups across the street into your neighbor's mailbox."

https://newyork.sbnation.com/new-yo...cker-jim-bouton-willie-stargell-jason-varitek

 

reminds me of the first Marlins game ever played...something about Dodger hitters tending to doze off while waiting for Charlie Hough's knuckleball.

 

Ah, Johnny Damon. You piece of white trash, sucking up to the man.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/11/us/johnny-damon-dui-bodycam-video-spt-trnd/index.html

 

Yup. I think of Blernsball every time Manford comes up with another one of his inane rule changes.

 

Of course, by that time it'll be Manfred's head in a jar still running things.....

 

Apparently, the Draft Kings crowd are the only folks that matter any more to the major sports.

 

I'm guessing spring training doesn't count against MLB records, but this 22 pitch at-bat would be a new record if they did.

 

MIchael Kay and John Sterling...together again.

 

Now...that's how you wear out a pitcher.

It is a lost art.

 

Chicago Cubs minor league baseball player Jesus Camargo-Corrales is facing drug charges after police in Colorado found 21 pounds of methamphetamine and 1.2 pounds of oxycodone pills.

"it's for personal use, I swear!"