- All Magazines
- Popular Magazines: Always Available
- Cooking and Food Magazines
- Craft Magazines
- News and Politics
- See all magazines collections
1 of 2 copies available
This quote, by pitcher and coach Charlie Hough, is the best way to understand baseball's most baffling and mysterious pitch. Not even the best practitioners of the art of throwing a knuckleball know where it is going most of the time. As a pitch that floats and comes into the plate in what appears to be slow motion, it is miraculous that those who employ the pitch don't get creamed all over the park by batters who seem to know that it's coming.
Including interviews with Hall of Famer Phil Niekro, former All-Stars Wilbur Wood and Tim Wakefield, as well as other famed knuckleballers, Lew Freedman (Clouds over the Goalpost, A Summer to Remember), breaks down the history of this infamous pitch, which it seems can be traced back to Chicago White Sox pitcher Ed Cicotte, as well as its effect on baseball as a whole.
With pitcher R. A. Dickey, who rejuvenated his career from castoff to 2011 Cy Young Award winner, the knuckleball is still a topic of conversation in the sport, and it continues to be one of the many marvels of our national pastime.
Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team.
Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
-
Creators
-
Publisher
-
Release date
March 17, 2015 -
Formats
-
Kindle Book
-
OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781613217948
- File size: 1256 KB
-
EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781613217948
- File size: 1254 KB
-
-
Languages
- English
-
Reviews
-
February 15, 2015
The origin of the knuckleball is not known with absolute certainty, but a lineage of pitchers wielding the mysterious pitch can be traced from Eddie Cicotte in the early 1900s to the present day. Freedman (The Packers Experience) outlines the history of the knuckleball by telling accounts of the people who used it. Legendary players such as Phil Niekro and Hoyt Wilhelm are prominent, but less-familiar names such as Bob Purkey and Gene Bearden appear as well. Success using the pitch varies from player to player, but the story of how they came to use it is almost always the same: it was either become a devotee to the knuckleball or find a job outside of baseball. This theme links each player on a personal level and helps create what is now acknowledged as a fraternity of knuckleball pitchers. VERDICT Freedman deftly weaves interviews and storytelling with career statistics to produce a cohesive and entertaining narrative. This book is great for baseball history aficionados who are looking for a different angle on America's pastime. The content and language is appropriate for all reading levels.--Matt Schirano, Magnus Wahlstrom Lib., Bridgeport, CT
Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
-