When asked about his experience catching Hall of Fame knuckleballer Phil Niekro, legendary Milwaukee Brewers catcher Bob Uecker famously joked, “the way to catch a knuckleball is to wait until the ball stops rolling and then to pick it up.” At the time, Uecker was making light of his league-leading 10 passed balls in 1967, an ignoble achievement even without realizing that he only spent 59 games behind the plate. The knuckleball, after all, is a famously difficult pitch to catch, due to its unpredictable, dance-like motion as a result of its lack of spin.
The origins of the knuckleball are very much like the pitch itself — unpredictable and hard to pin down.