Hall of Fame knuckleball pitcher, Phil Niekro has died, age 81.

Major League Baseball ^ | December 27, 2020 | Mark Bowman

[Hyman Roth]

Knuksie would have won like 700 games if the Braves didn’t suck.

[Ransomed]

Scouts are looking for tall big framed people who throw 90+. There’s been talk of various knuckleball academies but I’ve never heard of anyone ever panning out. So usually what ends up happening is failed conventional pitchers try the knuckleball as a desperation move. Sometimes it works. I think maybe the only ones that always threw it regular coming up were Wilhelm and Niekro. It’s extremely hard to throw successfully, much less successfully at the major league level.

FReegards

[Tymesup]

IIRC, there’s a theory that there’s less wear and tear on the pitcher with a shorter arm. Maybe we’ll see more short pitchers.

I wonder if the knuckleball would be learned better if taught at a younger age. Maybe a washout at 25 isn’t likely to pick it up.

I wonder if we’ll be able to look at a kid and figure out, based on their anatomy and/or genes, how fast they can throw.

Freegards

[Ahithophel]

Phil Nergo, you say? Interdasting.

[Ransomed]

If they have the knack, a knuckleball pitcher from inception to the bigs would theoretically have much, much less wear on the arm. Knuckleball pitcher is the one place where a female player might actually work in the modern game. Fielding would be the question, but they don’t know how to bunt today anyway, much less bunting knuckleballs.

As far as how hard it is to throw, it’s the most ‘feel’ pitch of them all. It’s on or it’s off. When it’s on, look out, not a good day for hitting. When it’s off it gets way out of hand very quick. For that reason mop up in lopsided games that eat innings is a good strategy for using knuckleballers, especially considering how they can theoretically eat innings up.

FReegards