Knuckleball
A knuckleball or knuckler is a baseball pitch thrown to minimize the spin of the ball in flight, causing an erratic, unpredictable motion.
Over the distance from the pitcher's mound to home plate, the effect of these forces is that the knuckleball can flutter, dance, jiggle, or curve in two different directions during its flight.
Even a ball thrown without rotation will "flutter", due to the "apparent wind" it feels as its trajectory changes throughout its flight path.
[7] Hitting a knuckleball is different enough from other aspects of baseball that players specifically prepare for the pitch during batting practice before games they expect it in.
[8] According to physicist Robert Adair, due to the physiological limitation of human reaction time, a breaking knuckleball may be impossible to hit except by luck.
[10] To reduce the chances of having the knuckleball get hit for a home run, some pitchers will impart a slight topspin so that if no force causes the ball to dance, it will move downward in flight.
This is due to both the knuckleball's low average speed and its erratic movement, which force the catcher to keep focusing on the ball even after the runners attempt to steal a base.
However, Cicotte called the shine ball "a pure freak of the imagination", claiming that he did this to disconcert hitters and that the pitch was still a knuckleball.
These include the flutterball, the floater, the dancer, the butterfly ball (the name for the pitch used by French language game commentators employed by the Montreal Expos), the ghostball, and the bug.
Many current pitchers throw a curveball using a grip with the index finger touching the ball with the knuckle or fingertip (also called a spike curve).
[16] Hoyt Wilhelm, Phil Niekro, and Jesse Haines, three pitchers who primarily relied on the knuckleball, have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Other prominent knuckleball pitchers have included Joe Niekro (Phil's brother), Charlie Hough, Dave Jolly, Ben Flowers, Wilbur Wood, Barney Schultz, Tom Candiotti, Bob Purkey, Steve Sparks, Eddie Rommel, Tim Wakefield, Steven Wright, and R. A. Dickey.
During the 1945 season, with talent depleted by call-ups to fight in World War II, the Washington Senators had a pitching rotation which included four knuckleball pitchers (Dutch Leonard, Johnny Niggeling, Mickey "Itsy Bitsy" Haefner, and Roger Wolff) who combined for 60 complete games and 60 wins, carrying the Senators to second place.
[24] When originally developed, the knuckleball was used by a number of pitchers as simply one pitch in their repertoire, usually as part of changing speeds from their fastball.
[26] On June 24, 2023, the San Diego Padres called up Matt Waldron to start against the Washington Nationals;[27] this makes him the most recent and only active knuckleballer in Major League Baseball.
Prior to Waldron, Steven Wright of the Boston Red Sox was considered to be the last active knuckleballer in the MLB; he has since been released from the team.
[28] Mickey Jannis, prior player of the Baltimore Orioles organization, also throws the knuckleball, and made his major league debut on June 23, 2021.
[29] Among position players making pitching appearances, those who have utilized the knuckleball include Wade Boggs,[30][31] Danny Worth,[32] Alex Blandino,[33] and Ernie Clement.
[34] On October 1, 2023, pitcher George Kirby of the Seattle Mariners threw his first knuckleball in an MLB game, drawing a swing and miss from the Texas Rangers' Corey Seager.
[35] After the game, Kirby confirmed that he chose this day to debut the pitch as a tribute to Boston Red Sox knuckleballer and World Series champion Tim Wakefield,[36] who had died that morning.
Bouton's famous best-selling book Ball Four (1970), while scandalous at the time for its unvarnished and often uncomplimentary portrayal of player behavior and coaching small-mindedness, is primarily about trying to stay in the major leagues as a knuckleball pitcher.
The Boston Red Sox, in their 2004 world championship season, had Mirabelli regularly catching in place of Jason Varitek when Tim Wakefield was pitching.
[39] The record for passed balls in an inning (4) was first set by Ray Katt of the New York Giants in 1954, catching Hoyt Wilhelm.
[42] Varitek holds the postseason record with three passed balls in the 13th inning of Game 5 of the 2004 American League Championship Series while catching Wakefield.
[43] In 2013, J. P. Arencibia set a Toronto Blue Jays franchise record by allowing four passed balls in the season opener (a 4–2 loss) while catching for knuckleballer R. A. Dickey.
The knuckleball is also employed by cricket fast bowlers Zaheer Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Andrew Tye as their slower delivery.
A successful knuckleball shot will move, dip, or wobble in the air unpredictably, making it difficult for the goalkeeper to save.
[52][53][54][55][56] This technique has also been used and even adapted by several other players, such as Andrea Pirlo,[57][48] Ronaldinho, Cristiano Ronaldo,[58] Didier Drogba,[58] Marcus Rashford, Gareth Bale,[47] and Barbara Bonansea.
