Knuckleball

A knuckleball (or knuckler for short) is a baseball pitch thrown so as to minimize the spin of the ball in flight. The lack of spin creates a chaotic airflow over the stitched seams of the baseball and produces an erratic, unpredictable motion. This makes the pitch difficult for batters to hit, but also difficult for pitchers to control. The challenge also extends to the catcher who must make an attempt to catch the pitch, and the umpire who must determine whether it was a strike or a ball.

Naming and relationship to other pitches

Since it developed during a period when the spitball was legal and commonly used, and was similarly surprising in its motion, the knuckleball was sometimes called the "dry spitter". Cicotte was widely reported to throw both the knuckleball and a variant on the spitball known as a "shine ball" (because he would "shine" one side of a dirty ball by rubbing it on his uniform). However, Cicotte called the shine ball "a pure freak of the imagination", claiming that he did this to disconcert hitters but that the pitch was still a knuckleball.

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Other names for the knuckleball have generally alluded to its motion and slower speed. These include the flutterball, the floater, the dancer, the butterfly ball, the ghostball, and the bug.

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The knuckle curve has a somewhat similar name because of the grip used to throw it (also with the knuckles or fingernails), but it is generally thrown harder and with spin. The resulting motion of the pitch more closely resembles a curveball, which explains the combination name. Toad Ramsey, a pitcher from 1885-1890, is credited in some later sources with being the first knuckleballer, apparently based primarily on accounts of how he gripped the ball; however, based on more contemporary descriptions of his pitch as an "immense drop ball", it may be that his pitch was a form of knuckle curve. Two later pitchers, Jesse Haines and Freddie Fitzsimmons, were sometimes characterized as knuckleball pitchers even by their contemporaries, but in their cases this again refers to a harder-thrown, curving pitch that would probably not be called a knuckleball today.

Related Topics:
Knuckle curve - Curveball - 1885 - 1890 - Jesse Haines - Freddie Fitzsimmons

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