May the Force Be with the Knuckleball and Minor-League Position Players Who Excel on the Mound with It

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 […]

The Knuckleball Does Everything By Doing Nothing

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 […]

Knuckleball Pitcher Steven Wright Again Knocked Out of Play; K.P. Wee Still Doesn’t Blame Knuckleballers

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 […]

Jannis on How He and His Knuckleball Got from There to Here; PLUS: the Benefits of Being Yourself

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 […]

Remembering the Knuckleball in 2018 and 1959

At overthemonster.com, Matt Collins reflects on Steven Wright’s 2018, a rough year for the knuckleball pitcher. Wright was late starting the season and then twice got knocked out of play when a knee injury from the previous year flared up. But there was  “some solid pitching in between” the gaps. On the field, Steven Wright […]

Knuckleballer and Dodger Charlie Hough Speaks; PLUS: Finding Your Slow and Gnarly Knuckleball

Jon Weisman, author of Brothers in Arms: Koufax, Kershaw, and the Dodgers’ Extraordinary Pitching Tradition, has published his interview with former Dodger Charlie Hough in the December 16 installment of the Word to the Weisman podcast. The half-hour interview includes much information that Weisman wasn’t able to use in the book. Hough was an active player from […]

Knuckleball Pitcher Wright Has Knee Surgery; Physics of Pitching; Stephen Darst, Has-Been Knuckleballer at 13

Last month, Red Sox pitcher Steven Wright had to sit out the World Series (the Sox won) because his left knee was acting up again. MassLive reported that on November 12 he “underwent a left knee arthroscopy and debridement…at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. Dr. Riley Williams performed the procedure.” The Red […]

Boston Red Sox Enjoy 3-1 Lead Over Los Angeles Dodgers In World Series; UPDATE: Make It 4-1, the Sox Have Won the World Series

On Saturday, October 27, the Boston Red Sox erased a “four-run deficit to win Game 4” of the World Series. Things had looked pretty bad after the sixth inning, with the Dodgers leading 4-0. “One night after playing 18 innings in Game 3,” write Mike Axisa and R.J. Anderson of CBS Sports, “the Red Sox […]

World Series: With Knuckleballer Wright Waiting in Wings, Boston Red Sox Face Los Angeles Dodgers

The first game of the World Series will be played on October 23 at 8:09 PM EST—and the Red Sox are in it, opposing the Los Angeles Dodgers after having bested the Houston Astros four games to one. The clincher against the Astros was played last Thursday, and much credit goes to “unlikely hero David […]