Welcome to Sox on Screen, a weekly blog in which I watch some kind of Red Sox-related or Red Sox-adjacent movie, television show or whatnot and talk about it. This week I chose Knuckleball!, a 2012 documentary chronicling those who have built their careers around cultivating an eccentric pitch.
Knuckleball! follows a personal crusade for guys like Tim Wakefield — featured prominently — and R.A. Dickey, who felt their careers were referendums on the “legitimacy” and “validity” of the knuckleball. They knew part of the beauty of the knuckleball was its unpredictability, but that is what makes so many coaches and spectators wary about its long-term effectiveness.