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When I was kid there was a retired Major League umpire that bought a small tavern where I grew up..just wanted to get away from it all. Anyway, he would come out and ump the local team games on the weekend.
He would tell of one pro team that had a couple of pitchers that could throw sky writers-thats what he called a Knuckle ball, and when the opposing batters would come up to the plate the catcher would tell them to dig their foxhole cuz they had no idea where in the hell the ball was going.

I got to meet Tony Kubek and Clete Boyer because of that ump. They came up to visit him. Never will forget that.

Knuckleball and forkball are two edges of the same knife. Both float and while a forkball generally dips down when it loses speed a knuckleball can go anywhere.

To my knowledge, the only true knuckleball pitcher left in the majors, currently unsigned, is Mickey Jannis. There were a few “pitchers” last year that threw a few, but they were mainly infielders or outfielders filling the position for runaway games in late innings to save a pitching staff. Two important things about the pitch is it is hard to control and it needs to have the wind in the face of the pitcher to get the best movement. Wind blowing out is good for hitters but not for most conventional pitchers. It may get them a tiny amount of movement but that goes out the door with an attempt at 100 mph. Many pitchers have come up throwing a knuckle curve or a splitter (forkball at high speed). Easier to control at better velocities. Also doesn’t give the hitter time to read the pitch as well. Only pitcher I ever saw that got away with a slow knuckle curve was Stu Miller from the Giants many years ago and the most successful knuckleball pitcher was Phil Niekro. He was a starter and won 318 games with a career era at 3.35. He and his brother could throw it for strikes more than not. But the new pitchers don’t use it enough to call it a featured pitch.

There is talk of a woman in the minors named Eri Yoshida that is somewhat successful throwing it side armed and could have been the first female in the majors. She played pro ball in Japan. But she has been in, and I believe left, the minors as she was signed in 2010 in northern California.

The nastiest one I ever saw throw was by Hoyt Wilhelm in an all star game. He got ahead in the count o and 2, and threw one that crossed the plate a strike but was over the catcher’s and umpire’s heads before it got to them and went to the screen. Nasty!

wy69