From the New York Times Crossword, July 29, 2015

42 Across  Knuckleballer Wilhelm

Hmmm – my family and friends know that my baseball knowledge could never be described as vast, but the name of a famous knuckleballer?  Forget about it!  Fortunately the letters in adjacent clues revealed the answer:  Hoyt.  Since I wanted to know more about what a knuckleballer is, I sought the answer in the most common of sites these days:  Wikipedia.  The first line in the description read (List of Knuckleballer pitchers):  “Knuckleball pitchers are those professional baseball players who have relied on the knuckleball as their primary pitch or who made it to professional baseball based on their ability to throw a knuckleball. ”  Gee, thanks, Wikipedia, that really cleared that up for me!

Further reading revealed that the trajectory of the pitch is so erratic that a true knuckleballer pitcher requires a dedicated catcher, often with a special mitt, to field the pitches.  Another curious fact is the slower velocity allows those who use this technique exclusively more stamina and ability to pitch longer and potentially for longer careers on the mound.  To add credence to this idea, Hoyt Wilhelm pitched until he was fifty years old – with others pitching well into their forties.

To delve into the physics of it, an excellent description is provided on Science of Baseball which stated: “The ideal knuckleball rotates about a quarter of a revolution on its way to the plate. Without the stabilizing gyroscopic effect of spinning, the ball becomes aerodynamically unstable, and the raised seams create an uneven flow of air over the surface of the ball, pushing it one way or another.”  The advice of one pitching coach said that there were several ways to hit a knuckleball pitch, only none of them worked.

Given the increased longevity of the pitchers who use it, why don’t more use this pitch? Well, part of the unpredictability lies with the pitch and the pitcher himself.  The slowed velocity if not couple with the variance of stability can certainly land a ball in the bleachers.  The incidence of passed balls increases dramatically with the use of this pitch leaving a rather dim endorsement of it.  The use of the knuckleball has fluctuated over time and it still has its adherents, although R. A. Dickey is the only knuckleballer to ever win the Cy Young award and Joe Niekro is the only one to have won 300 games.

Of course, since a picture is worth a thousand words (or in this case, a video), click on this link to see a rare video of Hoyt Wilhelm demonstrating his knuckleball:  YouTube video of Hoyt Wilhelm.