Ben Lindberg reminds us in a recent article for The Ringer that “The Knuckleball Isn’t Dead Yet.” (Well, we don’t need reminding, but maybe some of the other people do.) The piece begins by noting a recent improvement in the pitching of minor-league knuckleballer Mickey Jannis of the Binghamton Rumble Ponies, part of the Mets […]
Former Yankee pitcher Jim Bouton, a knuckleballer and the author of Ball Four—a best-selling and controversial account of his life in baseball—died on July 10 at the age of 80. He had suffered a stroke in 2012. The Washington Post’s Matt Schudel reports: Mr. Bouton (pronounced BOUT-un) was a hard-throwing right-hander who won 21 games […]
Chris Nowlin—whose Knuckleball Nation training seminars are the subject of a Wall Street Journal profile (reprinted at Chris’s web site)—responds to Howard Rich’s July 3 post suggesting that teams pursue a strategy “that exploits skilled knuckleballers, who are often best deployed as relief pitchers.” Chris says: I agree wholeheartedly with “The General Manager’s Undiscovered Secret […]
Knuckleball pitchers are undervalued—even though, once mastered, the knuckleball is devastatingly effective. In part because they are undervalued, knuckleball pitchers are rare. Few teams make the effort to cultivate them. A reliable knuckleballer is clearly an artist. But there is prejudice against the pitch at every level of baseball. The very existence of the knuckleball […]
During the last days of an 80-game suspension, Steven Wright of the Boston Red Sox has been pitching for the Pawtucket Red Sox. On June 9, MassLive reported that the game on that day, a Sunday, marked the “first minor league rehab game for Wright as he returns from suspension and offseason knee surgery.” He’s […]
Once again we have recourse to the words “only knuckleball pitcher in the MLB.” Before the start of this blog (in 2013), Tim Wakefield and R.A. Dickey had been a dynamic knuckleball duo in the major leagues. Their career story and the story of their 2011 season pitching the knuckleball would be the subject of […]
Last month, outfielder Blake Gailen with the Oklahoma City Dodgers displayed his knuckleball from the mound. The Oklahoman tells the tale in its April 15 story: It was supposed to be a last-ditch effort to survive the night. An inning, maybe two. It turned out to be so much more…. On a night where the […]
Sports writer Tyler Kepner’s new book K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches (published just this April) includes a chapter on the knuckleball, “The Knuckleball: Grabbing the Wing of a Butterfly.” In part, we learn, the knuckleball is about being able to compete. Almost all knuckleballers were rejected by the game before they could […]
Steven Wright seems to be afflicted with the tribulations of Job. Well, nobody has it tougher than Job did. But Wright keeps getting knocked out of play just as he is getting in gear. It wasn’t easy for him to get into the MLB to begin with. Patience, persistence and the knuckleball enabled him to […]
Persistent knuckleball pitcher Mickey Jannis has published a few more installments of “A Knuckleballer’s Journey” at MetsMerizedOnline. There are four in the series now. In order: Part 1, published January 8. My dad, Nick Jannis, was a baseball coach, and almost from the day I was born he introduced me to America’s pastime…. My college […]