New respect for the knuckle ball...in search of the ball that breaks twice

[sluggers]

R. A. Dickey striking out Will Rhymes.

Article discussing the pitch:

Dickey's Nasty Knuckleball

 

[Greenmonsters]

Swing hard, in case you get lucky - jm2c

 

[GOINGDEEP]

The absolute best knuckler was Phil Niekro. Learned it late in his career and after 40 and holds the best record at that age. Ive been around ball a long time and never seen a ball jump around like his in BB or FP. He will always set the standard for others to try to duplicate.

 

[marriard]

I will never get tired of looking at that.

Love you can see the logo the whole way to the plate - and catching that must be a right adventure (clearly)

 

[GOINGDEEP]

 

[Taxi]

thats crazy, reminds me of a wiffle ball

 

[splinterpicker]

Was catching my dd one day. Just messing around for fun she griped the ball at the seams with her fingers tucked in. She has big hands. Went through the regular pitching motion and pushed with her fingers at the same time she snapped her wrist. One of the few times I bailed, I know for fact it broke twice. Though not a true knuckler, because of the crazy spin. She can throw it and make it move twice. But and a big but there is no telling where it is going. Kind of has a mind of its own. She has made many of catcher bail also. As far as I know she has never thrown it in a game. It it just a fun one to play with for now.

 

[justanotherguy]

The knuckleball is one of my true passions. My DD and I practice throwing it at least a few times a week. FYI, the pitch you're seeing Dickey throw is Wilhelm's "spinner". It's common to believe that "no spin" is desired. However, half to up to two spins actually makes for the best knuckleball. The air currents change behind the ball in travel creating the ball that changes direction (due to the seems hitting the air, changing as it travels). A ball with no spin typically just dives (drops off the table) in one direction. The spinner creates the corkscrew type effect. A TRUE master can put different rotations on the ball and make it do different things. Backspin, corkscrew spin, forward spin, all create different kinds of knuckleballs.

I've always wondered how a softball KB would work. Could the air currents have enough effect at only 43 feet to truly change the direction of the ball? Has there ever been a true softball "knuckleball" pitcher? The softball KB should actually work "better" due to the size of the ball, creating a larger vacuum of air and currents behind the ball. However, a baseball KB thrower has to devote his whole life to the pitch, neglecting almost all other pitches. Things I'm VERY curious about.

 

[mad hornet]

You see at the beginning how many times he touched his head. Just adding a little Vaseline to the ball. LOL probably the difference between him and Dickey.

 

[mad hornet]

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

- Bob Uecker