Will Tim Wakefield Be the Last Knuckleballer?

[Eli Eon]

I am beginning to wonder if Wakefield is not going to be the "Last of the Mohicans" so to speak as far as sucessfull major league knuckleball pitchers. I sure hope not because the knuckleball pitcher has always fascinated me from the first time I watched Hoyt Wilhelm and the Niekros. It always amazed me how effortless they made throwing it appear along with the way the ball dances!

Some of the other great knuckleballers I recall were Eddie Fisher, Wilber Wood, and Charlie Hough. With the amount of money major league pitchers get paid these days it is surprising there are not old timers around who would operate camps to teach young pitchers the art of throwing the flutter ball! With the fact you don't have to be physically imposing or overly atheltic to develop the pitch (refer to Wilber Wood);) it would seem it would be an option for even the average guy to learn, but apparently there are few good teachers of it.

Alas, it seems to be going the way of the Wooly Mammoth!

[CrimsonTribe]

No, I'm going to teach my kid to throw one when he is 2 or 3 so that he'll have a killer one when he grows up. It's the only way he'll make the big leagues with the crappy DNA I'm giving him.

[dedwretched]

Charlie Haeger for the White Sox is a knuckleballer.

[BaltimoreTerp]

No, I'm going to teach my kid to throw one when he is 2 or 3 so that he'll have a killer one when he grows up. It's the only way he'll make the big leagues with the crappy DNA I'm giving him.

The only thing keeping my major-league dreams alive (stop laughing) is that one day I'll learn the knuckler. Or to throw submarine. Or to throw a submarine knuckler...

[Eli Eon]

No, I'm going to teach my kid to throw one when he is 2 or 3 so that he'll have a killer one when he grows up. It's the only way he'll make the big leagues with the crappy DNA I'm giving him.

That was funny. :D I like it!:)

[Eli Eon]

Charlie Haeger for the White Sox is a knuckleballer.

Yeah, I remember now they brought him in after running out of bullpen and he lost the game in extra innings I believe against our Orioles. I thought that was a terrible time to insert a knuckleballer!:eek:

[DrungoHazewood]

Of course not. The knuckleball works. If anything I see a future resurgence of the pitch, along with unconventional deliveries like submarining and sidearming.

All those things allow pitchers without a 95 mph fastball to succeed, thus opening up a potentially huge market of available MLB pitchers. I've long thought the O's should hire a few coaches who can teach the knuckler and submarine pitching, and offer the opportunity to learn to any pitcher in the minors who clearly isn't cutting it with a traditional delivery. Almost nothing to lose, and absolutely gigantic upside.

I'd also toy around with the idea of pitchers adding the knuckler to their regular assortment of pitches. This was common in the 40s and 50s. It wasn't until the 60s that it became standard practice to discourage knuckleballers from throwing other pitches, too. There were literally dozens of major league pitchers who were something like fastball/curveball/changeup/knuckleball pitchers.

I'd even spend a bunch of late-round draft picks on non-prospect pitchers who'd expressed a willingness to convert to unconventional deliveries. 35th-round picks are just organizational filler 99% of the time anyway, so you're giving these kids their only hope of a pro career while giving the Orioles a competitive advantage.

[Eli Eon]

Of course not. The knuckleball works. If anything I see a future resurgence of the pitch, along with unconventional deliveries like submarining and sidearming.

All those things allow pitchers without a 95 mph fastball to succeed, thus opening up a potentially huge market of available MLB pitchers. I've long thought the O's should hire a few coaches who can teach the knuckler and submarine pitching, and offer the opportunity to learn to any pitcher in the minors who clearly isn't cutting it with a traditional delivery. Almost nothing to lose, and absolutely gigantic upside.

I'd also toy around with the idea of pitchers adding the knuckler to their regular assortment of pitches. This was common in the 40s and 50s. It wasn't until the 60s that it became standard practice to discourage knuckleballers from throwing other pitches, too. There were literally dozens of major league pitchers who were something like fastball/curveball/changeup/knuckleball pitchers.

I'd even spend a bunch of late-round draft picks on non-prospect pitchers who'd expressed a willingness to convert to unconventional deliveries. 35th-round picks are just organizational filler 99% of the time anyway, so you're giving these kids their only hope of a pro career while giving the Orioles a competitive advantage.

I like it! I wonder if any of the old knuckleballers are giving camps on how to throw the pitch? I thought I read once the Niekro brothers used to do just that but I am pretty certain one if not both, of them have passed away, same as Hoyt Wilhelm (I believe). It would seem any of the successful major leaguers would be a valuable asset in teaching and helping others refine the pitch.

I have never read any detailed instruction on how to throw it other than you grip the ball with your finger nails and kind of push it rather than throw it, with the goal of eliminating any spin on the ball so that it dances in with the air currents. The whole aspect of that has always fascinated me. I tried throwing it many times and sometimes I could actually get it to dance but when I did it the ball never went anywhere close to where I wanted it to!:)

[TGO]

I like it! I wonder if any of the old knuckleballers are giving camps on how to throw the pitch? I thought I read once the Niekro brothers used to do just that but I am pretty certain one if not both, of them have passed away, same as Hoyt Wilhelm (I believe). It would seem any of the successful major leaguers would be a valuable asset in teaching and helping others refine the pitch.

I have never read any detailed instruction on how to throw it other than you grip the ball with your finger nails and kind of push it rather than throw it, with the goal of eliminating any spin on the ball so that it dances in with the air currents. The whole aspect of that has always fascinated me. I tried throwing it many times and sometimes I could actually get it to dance but when I did it the ball never went anywhere close to where I wanted it to!:)

Phil would like you to know that he is still alive. (http://www.baseball-reference.com/n/niekrph01.shtml) ;) Joe and Hoyt unfortunately have passed on.

Charlie Hough is the pitching coach for the Dodgers' high-A level team. I doubt he actively teaches the knuckler unless the organization asks him to, but you never know.

[Eli Eon]

Phil would like you to know that he is still alive. (http://www.baseball-reference.com/n/niekrph01.shtml) ;) Joe and Hoyt unfortunately have passed on.

Charlie Hough is the pitching coach for the Dodgers' high-A level team. I doubt he actively teaches the knuckler unless the organization asks him to, but you never know.

Great to hear! I always loved watching Phil Niekro pitch, and admited him because he was still doing it when he was 48 or 49 years of age I believe. I also have his rookie baseball card (one of the two HOF player rookie cards I collected and saved from my childhood along with Joe Morgan).

Also great to hear that Hough is a pitching coach. No doubt he would teach the knuckler to any pitcher that wanted to learn I would suspect.