The tightknit knuckleball community includes Hall of Famer Phil Niekro, 2012 NL Cy Young Award winner R.A. Dickey and two-time World Series champion Tim Wakefield. They showed that, if mastered, the pitch is one of the most effective in baseball, nearly impossible to hit. Pittsburgh Pirates slugger Willie Stargell, a Hall of Famer, once compared its flight to “a butterfly with hiccups.”
But coaches and knuckleballers believe the pitch may be nearing extinction.
Forever underestimated, never fully embraced on the instructional level and long an option of last resort for struggling pitchers, the knuckleball has always been somewhat rare.