Knuckelballers depend a lot on the elements to make that pitch do its thing. If you remember how Wilhelm was depicted in 61*, there was a pretty stiff wind in Baltimore's Memorial Stadium that night that, presumably, made the Wilhelm pitch swing and sway to the plate without being thrown particularly hard. (I remember watching Wilhelm and thinking his had to be about the most effortless delivery of any relief pitcher in that time. Wilbur Wood looked more like he was throwing a changeup but didn't look particularly taxed in his delivery, either.)
Watch a knuckleball pitcher on particularly windy days and see some real variations in the pitch's travel. And R.A. Dickey has often been described as throwing his knuckleball harder than the typical flutter pitcher throws it. So you never really know.
I haven’t seen that 61* movie, I will have to check it out. I have seen video of Wilbur Wood (he’s way before my time) and yes, he had a very fluid follow-through at the end. A lefty too, although I’m not sure if a knuckleballer has meaningful splits for batters.
I think the red sox and orioles both have knuckleballers in their minor league systems. I think it’s so rare anymore because of how scouts give considerations and the current day perception that the knuckleball is exclusively a fall back option trick pitch to implement after failure at ‘traditional pitching.’ And it does work that way sometimes. But Niekro and Wilhelm were knuckleballers pretty much from the start, and they are both in the hall. Now scouts concentrate on 6’6 guys that throw mid 90s in high school. With the hitting approaches of today you would think someone would be exploiting having a knuckler on the roster.
Freegards