Phil Niekro shows his knuckleball grip to Pedro Martinez and Ivan Rodriguez at the 2014 Hall of Fame Classic in Cooperstown. The knuckleball grip has a few different variations to it, which makes the pitch unique. getting into 31 Major League games with a 9.95 ERA. Quite frankly if you ever saw Mr. Niekro on the pitching mound he could have been mistaken for someone who was playing on a weekend softball team of over the hill players. A breeze, a loose stitch, a bit of humidity: Such little things can add up to create a bit of chaotic movement that fools batters. [23], Among position players making pitching appearances, those who have utilized the knuckleball include Wade Boggs,[24][25] Danny Worth,[26] Alex Blandino,[27] and Ernie Clement. It speculates that the appearance of abrupt shifting may be due to the unpredictability of the changes in direction.[9]. So use the fingertips and not the knuckles. The tricky pitch is the knuckleball, and it is rare in the game today to see the pitch. Sometimes you get a piece, but most of the time you get hungry.. Light-hitting and self-effacing, Uecker was hardly the knuckleball specialist that the Braves presented him as being, but Torre, the regular catcher, was at wits end, and Uecker did have experience catching the knuckleballs of the Cardinals Barney Schultz, and before that the Braves Bobby Tiefenauer. His June 1 win over the Tigers gave the Niekro brothers 530 wins, one more than Gaylord and Jim Perry, but on August 9, while carrying a 5.89 ERA, Niekro was traded to the Blue Jays. Pitching coaches often struggle with knuckleball pitchers due to a lack of experience with the pitch. All UZR (ultimate zone rating) calculations are provided courtesy of Mitchel Lichtman. So, I think we can trust the key points found in the conventionally successful grips of Dickey, Hough, Niekro and Candiotti. that mike marshall season will forever live rent free in my head, Over the 1973-74 seasons, Mike Marshall pitched a total of 378 1/3 innings without making a single start. Dennis received his B.A. Hall of Fame pitcher Phil Niekro, famous for signature knuckleball Hes one of 10 pitchers to attain the dual milestones of 300 wins and 3,000 strikeouts six of them cohorts from That Seventies Group and ranks 16th overall on the all-time list for the former and 11th for the latter. Heck, he didn't even know where it was going most of the time. [50], This article is about the baseball pitch. Still, as we said, the knuckleball can be effective and can prolong careers. Atlanta Braves pitcher won 318 games over 24-year career, Niekro also played for Yankees, Indians and Blue Jays. When people ask me who was an influencer and an example to you that helped you in your career, Knucksie is the first guy I think of, he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitutions Tim Tucker. Because the pitch travels at 60 mph to maybe 80 mph, throwing that "softly" puts far less stress on an arm than throwing 90 mph or above. Thoughts from the Front Lines of In-House Legal Practice. The Baseball 100: No. But because the pitch is so difficult to throw, even on a good day, you want to reduce as many variables as possible. Matched up against Seaver in the NLCS opener, he carried a 5-4 lead into the eighth inning before the Mets erupted for five runs, four of them unearned; they went on to sweep the best-of-five series. The idea that his pitch would survive only as a joke must have dismayed Niekro. Instead of throwing the typical repertoire of fastballs, sliders, curveballs, change-ups, sinkerballs, screwballs, split-fingered fastballs, etc.that most pitchers throw, he relied primarily on a very unique pitch known as the knuckleball that he and his younger brother Joe Niekro another highly successful major league baseball pitcher who won 221 games both learned to throw from their father growing up in Ohio. He compiled a 17-1 record on the mound while relying upon the knuckleball, the lone blemish coming in his freshman year, when he served up a solo homer to Warren Consolidated High Schools Bill Mazeroski, himself a future Hall of Famer, and lost 1-0. [T]hat was one thing John couldnt really do catch that knuckleball, Niekro told Posnanski. Phil Niekro (1939-2020), legendary knuckleball pitcher And when the ball is thrown, the fingertips guide the ball; applying pressure at just the right moment to send the ball flying without any spin. Clyde King, a special assignment scout for the Yankees (and soon their general manager), had managed Niekro in Atlanta in 1974-75, sold George Steinbrenner on what his presence could mean to the staff. Since the pitch does not take as much stamina as throwing a fastball, pitchers can pitch deeper into the game without getting tired. He was game for the task, telling Niekro to throw the knuckleball on every pitch. And in 2020 it was gone. Even if I had a few aches and pains, I was going to get out there and play, because Knucksie would..