Knuckleball
A knuckleball is a baseball pitch thrown with the fingernails so as to minimize backspin. The lack of backspin creates a chaotic airflow over the stitched seams of the baseball and produces an erratic, unpredictable motion. (Although it has been noted that a completely spinless pitch will tend to deviate less than a slowly spinning one, that completes perhaps one rotation on it way to the plate. The reasons for this are not well understood).
The pitch is therefore extraordinarily difficult for batters to hit, and even more difficult to throw consistently for strikes. Knuckleball pitchers are therefore rare — the only two active major league knuckleball pitchers as of 2004 are Tim Wakefield and Steve Sparks.
Origins
Eddie Cicotte, considered by some to be the pioneer of the knuckleball, discovered that pressing the knuckles of his middle and index fingers against the ball?s surface, and steadying the ball with his thumb, produced a spinless pitch. It was later realized that the same effect could be produced with greater control by gripping the ball with the fingernails. The knuckles themselves have not been used to throw a knuckleball in ninety years.
The knuckleball is also known as the knuckler, the flutterball, the floater, the dancer, the dry spitter, the butterfly ball, the bubble, the ghostball, the horseshoe and the bug.
In pitching
The erratic motion makes the knuckleball a difficult pitch to hit. However, this also makes it difficult for the pitcher to control where the pitch is going, and makes the catcher's job quite challenging. As a result, few pitchers use it, although some manage to master the technique and even use the knuckleball almost exclusively. Two knuckleball pitchers are in the Baseball Hall of Fame: Hoyt Wilhelm and Phil Niekro. Other pitchers known for using the knuckleball include Eddie Cicotte, one of the infamous Black Sox, and Joe Niekro, Phil's brother.
The knuckleball does not need to be thrown hard (throwing too hard may diminish its effectiveness), and is therefore less taxing an the arm. As a result, some pitchers (such as Jim Bouton) have had success as knuckleballers after their ability to throw hard declined. This also means knuckleball pitchers can throw more innings than orthodox pitchers, and tend to have greater longevity, with some continuing professional careers well into their forties.
During the 1945 season, with talent depleted by call-ups to fight in World War 2, the Washington Senators had a pitching rotation which included four knuckleball pitchers (Dutch Leonard, Johnny Niggeling, Mickey "Itsy Bitsy" Haefner and The New Yorker about the history of the knuckleball and contemporary knuckleball pitchers.
