Knuckleball

League Championship Series, Wakefield's knuckleball is still dancing. ❋ Unknown (2003)

"The knuckleball is one of the toughest balls to hit," said ❋ Unknown (2001)

Wakefield throws a knuckleball, which is indeed extremely unpredictable. — cephyn ❋ Unknown (2007)

His repertoire includes a knuckleball, which is always intriguing. ❋ Unknown (2008)

In baseball, this pitch is known as a knuckleball, and neither pitcher nor batter has much idea of its exact flight path. ❋ Unknown (2006)

With the terminology not yet standardized, this fingernail fling was quite likely what we now call a knuckleball. ❋ Bill James Rob Neyer (2004)

One was the pitch we now call the knuckleball; the other was a pitch thrown much harder and with a different break, but also called a knuckleball see entries on Eddie Rommel, Ben Cantwell, Jesse Haines and Freddie Fitzsimmons. ❋ Bill James Rob Neyer (2004)

Fingernail Ball, Fingertip Ball, Floater, Butterfly Ball, Flutterball, Dry Spitter The knuckleball is a pitch thrown with very little rotation, usually thrown less than 80 MPH, so that the buildup of air pressure causes the ball to dive sharply a few feet in front of the plate. ❋ Bill James Rob Neyer (2004)

In writing about the knuckleball, I noted that, in the 1920s, there were two quite distinct pitches being thrown, both called the knuckleball. ❋ Bill James Rob Neyer (2004)

Also in 1920, Jesse Haines reached the majors for good, and wound up getting into the Hall of Fame while depending largely on a pitch that everybody called a knuckleball. ❋ Bill James Rob Neyer (2004)

His knuckleball was a “floater,” like a modern knuckleball, rather than the hard knuckleball thrown by Freddie Fitzsimmons and other pitchers in the thirties. ❋ Bill James Rob Neyer (2004)

The origins of the knuckleball are a bit murky, as four different pitchers have been said to have invented a non-spinning pitch thrown off the knuckles or the fingertips at roughly the same time. ❋ Bill James Rob Neyer (2004)

Cicotte, while still active, adamantly denied any funny business with the baseball, claiming instead that the knuckleball was the secret to his success. ❋ Bill James Rob Neyer (2004)

Also in 1908, Ed Summers became known for a pitch called a “dry spitter,” but a photo shows a pitch gripped with the first knuckles on the index and middle finger; that is, a knuckleball in the most literal sense. ❋ Bill James Rob Neyer (2004)