The second and third greatest knuckleball pitchers of all time?

Balticfox · #1 01-15-2025, 11:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by steve B

I'm not sure how the others were teamwise, but Wakefield was very different.

Signed an auto renewing one year contract that was a decent deal for both him and the team. Only modified at his request after a bad season - he requested the yearly pay be decreased since he felt his age and abilities were not as valuable.

At least one time had good stats until a week where neither the starters of relievers were doing well. Asked to eat up innings on minimal rest so the relievers could rest even if it went badly and wrecked his stats he agreed and took a pretty bad beating for all nine innings. And just said it was what the bullpen needed so he was happy to help.

Now that's a player who merits the full respect of every true baseball fan! Tim Wakefield certainly gets mine.

Wakefield's best year may have been in 1995 which was fairly early in his career. In that year he pitched 195 1/3 innings in 27 starts for the Boston Red Sox with 6 complete games. He posted an ERA of only 2.95 while pitching an average of almost 7 1/3 innings per appearance! It was in 2005 though at the age of 38 that he logged the most work pitching a total of 225 1/3 innings in 33 starts which was just over 6 2/3 innings per start with a respectable ERA of 4.15.

Balticfox · #2 01-16-2025, 10:57 AM

It's a little known fact that Warren Spahn rejuvenated his career at the age of 42 in 1963 by adding a knuckleball to his bag of tricks. Spahn went 23-7 for the Milwaukee Braves that year thus matching his career best W-L mark. He posted an ERA of only 2.60 in 33 starts with 22 complete games! The 259 2/3 innings he pitched work out to an average of nearly 8 per game.

Here are scans of my two Warren Spahn cards:

I also have his 1963 Salada Baseball Coin and his 1964 Topps Baseball Coins.

Balticfox · #3 01-19-2025, 11:36 PM

Sadly R.A. Dickey isn't getting any love in this thread. But he's the only knuckleballer to have won the Cy Young Award when he went 20-6 with an E.R.A. of 2.73 for the New York Mets in 2012. He pitched 233 2/3 innings that year in 33 starts with 5 complete games and one other appearance where he closed out the game which means he pitched about 7 innings per start.

Aquarian Sports Cards · #4 01-20-2025, 06:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Balticfox

Sadly R.A. Dickey isn't getting any love in this thread. But he's the only knuckleballer to have won the Cy Young Award when he went 20-6 with an E.R.A. of 2.73 for the New York Mets in 2012. He pitched 233 2/3 innings that year in 33 starts with 5 complete games and one other appearance where he closed out the game which means he pitched about 7 innings per start.

Kershaw was robbed

Balticfox · #5 01-20-2025, 10:50 AM

Well Clayton Kershaw did post a glowing E.R.A. of 2.53 in 2012. But he went only 14-9 and was too lazy to complete any more than 2 of the 33 games in which he started. I mean what's with that? And how was his knuckleball anyway?

Incidentally, you're not a Dodgers �ber alles type are you?

Balticfox · #6 02-12-2025, 10:05 PM

The legendary Satchel Paige expanded his pitching repertoire in 1939-40 by adding a knuckleball which he learned from fabled base path speedster Cool Papa Bell. I don't know how often Paige used his knuckleball but he caught on with the Cleveland Indians in 1948 at the age of 41 and after playing for the Indians for two seasons returned to the American League in 1951 with the St. Louis Browns for whom he pitched for three seasons:

Peter_Spaeth · #7 02-12-2025, 10:21 PM

And he was not in 50 Bowman, 51 Bowman, 52 Bowman, 53 Bowman or -- tragically -- 52 Topps.

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