(A common phrase for hitting a knuckleball is "if it's low, let it go; if it's high, let it fly"; meaning that a batter should attempt to hit a knuckleball only if it crosses the plate high in the strike zone due to lack of break.) Since it developed during a period when the spitball was legal and commonly used, and was similarly surprising in its motion, the knuckleball was sometimes called the "dry spitter". Phil Niekro had 3,342 strikeouts over his career. September 27, 1987 Other names for the knuckleball have generally alluded to its motion and slower speed. Much of the play-by-play, game results, and transaction information both shown and used to create certain data sets was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by RetroSheet. I don't think of his Hall of Fame plaque. The fingers that stabilize the ball shouldnt be on any seams. Burroughs struck out, giving the Yankees an 8-0 victory and Niekro his milestone. A knuckleball or knuckler is a baseball pitch thrown to minimize the spin of the ball in flight, causing an erratic, unpredictable motion. None of them succeeded to the extent . "Ueck told me if I was ever going to be a winner to throw the knuckleball at all times and he would try to catch it," Niekro said. https://www.mlb.com/ His younger brother Joe was also a Major League pitcher, who won more than 200 games. Memorial Park South Cemetery, Flowery Branch, GA, High School: Bridgeport HS (Bridgeport, OH), Debut: The grips of these guys are similar because they understand the basic rule for throwing a great knuckleball reduce as many variables as possible to put yourself into a position to give yourself a chance of killing the spin entirely. "He simply destroys your timing with that knuckleball," said Hall of Famer Ernie Banks. Phil Niekros record on the field ranks him as one of the games finest pitchers, said Jane Forbes Clark, Chairman of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. * Joe Niekro was a superb knuckleball pitcher himself; not quite as good as Phil but he did win 221 games and in 1979 came significantly closer to winning the Cy Young Award than Phil ever did (he . Read More FILE - In this March 29, 2007, file photo, Baseball Hall of Famer Phil Niekro holds a knuckleball at the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland. Niekro, who pitched well into his 40s with a knuckleball that baffled big league hitters for more than two decades, mostly with the Atlanta Braves, has died after a long fight with cancer, the team . Two later pitchers, Jesse Haines and Freddie Fitzsimmons, were sometimes characterized as knuckleball pitchers even by their contemporaries, but in their cases it again refers to a harder-thrown, curving pitch that would probably not be called a knuckleball today. Get breaking news alerts& today's headlines inyour inbox. Niekro and his brother Joe, another knuckleballer, hold the record for the most victories by a brother combination with 539. (Voted by BBWAA on 380/473 ballots) The first is selection bias in scouting. December 30, 2020. 11/19/2013 added GIFs for Tim Wakefield, Charlie Hough and Phil Niekro 1/2/2013 added RA Dickey knuckleball slomotion from FanGraphs. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. [13] And on April 8, 2010, she signed with the Chico Outlaws, debuting on May 29, 2010. (Age 25-014d, Taking a fly swatter to the batter's box would have worked just as well. We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. After he was notified, Niekro said, "Giving a description of today's phone call is impossible. 2. Phil Niekro pitched a no . He won 121 games after turning 40, and retired with 318 victories over the course of 5,404 innings the fourth-most all-time and the most of any pitcher whose career started in the live ball era. "Very few pitchers make a living throwing the knuckleball," says Sain, "simply because they can't make it work. Full-year historical Major League statistics provided by Pete Palmer and Gary Gillette of Hidden Game Sports. If you have any question, please contact me at knuckleballnation@gmail.com, Monday Friday: 10am 9pmSaturday: 10am 4pm, Copyright OceanWP Knuckleball Nation. Unlike conventional pitches, which perform fast results without much exertion, a knuckleball pitcher must train his body and muscle memory to be able to execute a 65mph pitch with less than one rotation. The resulting motion of the pitch more closely resembles a curveball, which explains the combination name. Phil, trying for a fifth time to win No. We present them here for purely educational purposes. [2] If a knuckleball does not change direction in mid-flight, however, then it is easy to hit due to its lack of speed. Do you have a sports website? R. A. Dickey argues that, "for most managers, it takes a special manager to be able to really trust it the bad and the good of it. He reinvented pitching by adding this slow, crazy moving pitch. If staying in the majors could be owed to the knuckler, the same factor might also explain Niekro's initial difficulty in reaching the big leagues. On occasion, teams have traded knuckleball pitchers and their catchers in the same transaction. Their win total still stands as a major league record for siblings, as they surpassed another brother combination featuring a Hall of Famer: Gaylord and Jim Perry (529 wins combined). Communication. He never caught for Dickey again. Baseball Hall of Famer Phil Niekro, who pitched well into his 40s with a knuckleball that baffled big league hitters for more than two decades, mostly with the Atlanta . Sponsored. Signed in 1958, he didn't break through for good for nearly a decade. I don't think of his knuckleball. Additionally, Ted Lyons, another member of the Hall of Fame, relied heavily on the knuckleball after injuring his arm in 1931. Regardless of how the ball is gripped, the purpose of the knuckleball is to have the least possible amount of rotational spin. [9] He appeared in 37 games, finishing with a 1412 record and 15 complete games. [20], As of 2019[update], 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. In volleyball, the float serve involves hitting the volleyball in such a way to minimize the rotation of the ball, causing unpredictability in the ball's movement. Niekro's first two Topps baseball cards are both combination cards with other Braves prospects and his 1965 Topps card is shared with pitcher Clay Carroll. Cicotte was widely reported to throw both the knuckleball and a variant on the spitball known as a "shine ball" (because he would "shine" one side of a dirty ball by rubbing it on his uniform). The lower physical strain also fosters longer careers. Subscribe to Stathead Baseball: Get your first month FREEYour All-Access Ticket to the Baseball Reference Database. He was 81. And todays two tips are all about reducing those variables. Rookie Status: [1], In 1980 and 1981, he went 1518 and 77 while leading the league in games started (38) and losses (18) in 1980. The four pitchers in the hall of fame include Phil Niekro, Ted Lyons, Jesse Haines, and Hoyt Wilhelm. Many historical player head shots courtesy of David Davis. But that was nothing new. [20] On September 27, he made his final start of his career, pitching three innings and surrendering five runs in the no-decision. Your pointer and middle fingertips throw the knuckleball. The knuckleball is somewhat of a lost art, a pitch with slower speed that moves oddly and is hard for hitters to predict the trajectory. All logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. One 2007 study offered evidence for this conclusion. Niekro famously stayed away from his knuckleball on that day, using a combination of conventional off-speed pitches to get the first 26 outs. Share The ball completes between one-quarter and one-half a rotation on its way from the pitcher to the batter; the position of the stitches changes as the ball travels, affecting the drag that gives the ball its motion, thus making its flight erratic. On October 6, 1985, Niekro gained entry into the 300 win club with a shutout win over the Toronto Blue Jays. It was during those community and fan activities where he would communicate with fans as if they were long lost friends. Phil Niekro, 300-game winner and Hall of Famer, passed away on Dec. 26 at the age of 81. "I got to meet a lot of important people. By continuing to use this website, you consent to the use of cookies in accordance with our Cookie Policy. "[26], After the end of his professional baseball career, Niekro managed the all-women Colorado Silver Bullets baseball team. 1978 Topps Nolan Ryan Phil Niekro Strikeout Leaders #206 NM HOF Nice Card! A trip to Cooperstown has something for baseball fans and everyone else. Toad Ramsey, a pitcher from 1885 to 1890, is credited in some later sources with being the first knuckleballer, apparently based primarily on accounts of how he gripped the ball; however, based on more contemporary descriptions of his pitch as an "immense drop ball", it may be that his pitch was a form of knuckle curve. Phil and Joe Niekro learned the pitch from their father, a Polish coal miner, and won a combined total of 539 games the most by two brothers in big league history. His longevity is attributed to his knuckleball, which is a difficult pitch to master but is easy on the arm and often baffles hitters due to its unpredictable trajectory. When Mr. Niekro was 40 years old in 1979 he threw 23 complete games - nowadays it is rare to see a pitcher even throw 1 or 2 complete 9 inning games during a typical season. Phil Niekro threw a pitch that baffled hitters and catchers. Many people, including pros, think that the pitch is thrown with fingertips dug into the seams. [14], Another factor contributing to the rarity of the knuckleball is the difficulty of throwing the pitch. Vic DeLucia/The New York Times. ATLANTA (AP) Baseball Hall of Famer Phil Niekro, who pitched well into his 40s with a knuckleball that baffled big league hitters for more than two decades, mostly with the Atlanta Braves, has . The nice thing about Phil Niekro is, he doesn't look his age. He finished the 1985 season with a 1612 record, the final time he won 15 or more games in a single season. ", "Knuckleballers' paths as tricky as the pitch", "MLB pitchers setting velocity records, altering balance of power", "Knuckleball life comes full circle for Wakefield", "Japan's 'Knuckle Princess' Arrives in U.S.", "Knuckleball pitchers may be a dying breed", "The art of the mysterious knuckleball is on the verge of extinction", "Wakefield, Dickey share a unique relationship", "R. A. Dickey calls Cy Young Award a victory for all knuckleballers", "Knuckleballer Mickey Jannis Making His MLB Debut at Age 33 Is So Cool", "Frazier breaks out knuckler in pitching debut", "You knew Wade Boggs could hit, but did you also know he had a nasty knuckleball? 300, entered the bottom of the ninth having shut out the Jays on curveballs, slip pitches, fastballs and screwballs -- everything but a knuckleball. Photo is at @Dana_Pump @David_Pump Foundation dinner with @STLWizard #RickeyHenderson pic.twitter.com/RccUiq0rJO, PHIL NIEKRO YOU WERE ALWAYS GOOD MAN WHENEVER WE SEE YOU AT THE MATCHES IN THE ATLANTA. He finished sixth in Cy Young Award voting in both 1978 and 1979, and made his third All-Star appearance in 1978, as well as winning three consecutive Gold Glove Awards from 1978 to 1980. 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. This is the magical village of the U.S.A., Craig Muder is the director of communications for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. His pitching coach? [32] For a catcher, a key disadvantage to using a first baseman's glove mitt is that they are not designed for easy extraction of the ball from the glove, making it harder to prevent baserunners from stealing. It is for this reason that the knuckleball is widely regarded as unreliable, and knuckleball pitchers are prone to extended slumps, such as when Tim Wakefield was released from the Pirates in a mid-career slump during spring training in 1995. Niekro, often referred to by his knuckleball . inFlowery Branch,GA, Buried: A statue of Hall of Fame pitcher Phil Niekro, the winningest knuckleball pitcher in major league history, adorns the Atlanta Braves' Truist Park Tuesday, March 31, 2020, in Atlanta. By Jim Murray. Logos were compiled by the amazing SportsLogos.net. [18], 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. "I never knew how to throw a fastball, never learned how to throw a curveball, a slider, split-finger, whatever they're throwing nowadays," he said. It is almost never used in a mixed repertoire today, however, and some believe that to throw the knuckleball effectively with some semblance of control over the pitch, one must throw it more or less exclusively. I didnt know what it was or anything, he showed me how to hold it and wed just play knuckleball in the backyard., Phil Niekro pitched for the Braves for 21 seasons, topping the 300-inning mark in four seasons. I don't think of his 318 wins. All rights reserved. the official stats partner of the NBA, NHL and MLB.
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