Tom Brennan: Extinct Knuckleballers; Off Season Stuff; Would You Care for the Trout, Monsieur?

 

CY YOUNG WINNER RA DICKEY

WHERE ARE TODAY’S KNUCKLEBALLING CY YOUNG CONTENDERS?

HALL OF FAME CONTENDERS?

20 YEAR MLB PITCHING KNUCKLE MEN?

WHERE ARE THE ENTREPRENEURIAL TYPES WHO WANT TO TRY MASTER A FORGOTTEN TOOL AND TAKE A CHANCE AT BECOMING A MULTIMILLIONAIRE?

It eternally puzzles me why more young pitchers, many of whom never make the majors, do not try to leapfrog the competition by developing that seldom-used weapon, the knuckleball. 

What would some of the guys who follow below make in $$$ in this day and age of Brinks Truck Baseball? 

Plenty.

I never thought much about the knuckleball, until the Mets acquired a guy who a) threw one and 2) won a Cy Young award doing so. His name?

RA DICKEY - not much was expected of him when the Mets snatched him off the trash heap. But in very short order, he went 20-6 for the Mets in his 2012 Cy Young season.  He did that when he was 37.  Pitched until he almost turned 43.  

As a Met, he was 39-28, 2.95. Wouldn't you love that now?

He was drafted 18th overall in 1996, as a non-knuckleballer. But he wasn’t that good. He was 16-19, with an ERA of close to 6, with Texas over a few seasons, then similarly struggled to a 5.21 ERA with Seattle.  Instead of giving up, he tried the knuckler in earnest, was excellent in AAA in 2010 with the Mets, called up to exceedingly skeptical fans, and fooled them all going 11-9, 2.84 after the call up.

He added years to his career and lots of salary to his bank account because he had the guts to develop tha pitch. He won 120 games, started 300 games, and relieved in 100 games.

Other knuckleballers of renown?

CHARLIE HOUGH:  Per Wikipedia: After pitching in the low minor leagues from 1967 to 1969 with limited success, Hough's career and fortunes changed dramatically when he learned how to throw a knuckleball in spring training in 1970, leading to a successful season with the Spokane Indians in AAA, where he led the Pacific Coast League in saves and posted a 1.95 ERA.  

He made his major league debut against the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1970 but did not join the Dodgers bullpen full-time until the 1973 season. He pitched until 1994, 28 years after his pro career began, winning 216 games, losing 216 games, 418 relief appearances and 440 starts, 61 saves, and a 3.75 ERA.

He might well have never made the majors without that specialty pitch.  I guess he could have skipped the knuckleball and gone into selling insurance or pet food for a living instead.  Or invented the internet before Al Gore did.

HOYT WILHELM: Hoyt missed 3 years in WW II, and received a Purple Heart when he was wounded in the Battle of the Bulge. P

itched his entire career with shrapnel in his back. Remarkable.

It took him years in the minors before he was called up, along with his knuckler, at age 29. Despite that advanced rookie age, he remarkably, due to the knuckler, pitched in 21 MLB seasons, posting a 2.52 ERA, pitching in a remarkable 1,070 games and going 143-122 with 228 saves. He started just 52 games, with half of those being in 1959, when he went 15-11, 2.19. 

As a rookie in 1952, he went 15-3 with an excellent ERA. 

His knuckler got him into the Hall of Fame. 

PHIL NIEKRO: Phil and his brother Joe learned how to throw a knuckler from a coal miner. Neither, to my knowledge, married the Coal Miner’s Daughter.   Phil, though, won 318 games, sported a 3.35 ERA, and pitched 24 years, from age 25 to age 48. He pitched in 24 MLB seasons.

He too made the Hall of Fame.

JOE NIEKRO: his knuckleball was good enough to allow him to pitch in the majors from age 22 through age 43, 22 seasons.

He started 500 MLB games and relieved in 202 more, with a 3.59 ERA, and 221 career wins. He was a 20 game winner in back to back seasons, at ages 34 and 35. It also got him 1,165 plate appearances, which many major league hitters would be happy to achieve.

WILBUR WOOD: he was having at best marginal success early in his career, developed the knuckler with Phil Niekro’s tutelage, and became a fine and very heavily used reliever in 1967 through 1970.   

In 1971, he became a starter and remarkably won 90 games in a 4 season span, averaging almost 350 innings a season.  

He suffered a fractured kneecap from a line drive in 1976 and was only 17-21 in 1976 through 1979 and retired, but was in 651 games, won 164 and had a fine 3.24 career ERA.

TIM WAKEFIELD: 200 game winner, 627 games, 19 seasons,  

He was drafted in the 8th round as a hitter, was told he’d never make the big leagues, decided to develop a knuckleball and pitch, and had 19 major league seasons to show for it. He was solid in 8 outings against the Mets, but just 12-18, 5.01 against the juggernaut Yankees teams of his day.  Which lousy Mets minor league hitter wants a 19 year MLB career?  Here is the roadmap.

TOM CANDIOTTI - Undrafted, he struggled through Indy Ball, and his perseverance paid off in 151 career wins, and a 3.73 career ERA. He debuted at age 26 in 1982, and retired at age 42 in 1999. Overall, 410 starts, and 41 games in relief, spanning 16 MLB seasons.

These 8 guys pitched in so incredibly many games, and ended up with so many wins and saves.  And so many innings, and so darned many years. 

Imagine what Hoyt Wilhelm or Phil Niekro would have earned today?  

Boggles the mind.

Two made the Hall of Fame. Dickey won the Cy Young award. The game of baseball pays so incredibly much to star players today.  

And still, with potential mega millions there for the taking for those who might be the next Wilhelm or Niekro, it is almost as if using the pitch has been outlawed. 

MICKEY JANNIS

More recently, Mickey Jannis pitched in the minors in AA and AAA for the Mets, with decent success, and a single unsuccessful cup of coffee game in the majors with the Orioles. But he made it for at least that one game, something the former 44th rounder would have ever pulled off with just his traditional repertoire.

Bottom line: 

If I saw that my career as a minor league pitcher (or even hitter) would probably peak at High A, AA, or AAA, and I found I could effectively throw a knuckleball, I would sure give it a try.

BACK IN THE DAY…BALLPARK PRICES WERE SIMPLY CHEAPER:

That, plus free tickets from Bordens milk container coupon cut outs and cheap bus and subway fares made going to a game and eating there, too, cost well under $5. So I went…a lot.

LASTLY…

From a list I saw - unverified - times teams have been in the World Series:

1. New York Yankees — 40 (now 41)

2. Los Angeles/Brooklyn Dodgers — 21 (now 22)
3. San Francisco/New York Giants — 20
4. St. Louis Cardinals — 19
5. Oakland/Philadelphia Athletics — 14

6. Boston Red Sox/Americans — 13

7t. Chicago Cubs — 11
7t. Detroit Tigers — 11
9. Atlanta/Milwaukee/Boston Braves — 10
10. Cincinnati Reds — 9
11t. Baltimore Orioles/St. Louis Browns — 7
11t. Philadelphia Phillies — 7
11t. Pittsburgh Pirates — 7
14t. Cleveland Guardians/Indians — 6
14t. Minnesota Twins/Washington Senators — 6
16t. Chicago White Sox — 5

16t. New York Mets — 5

18t. Houston Astros — 4
18t. Kansas City Royals — 4
20t. Miami/Florida Marlins — 2
20t. San Diego Padres — 2
20t. Tampa Bay Rays — 2
20t. Texas Rangers — 3
20t. Toronto Blue Jays — 2
21. Arizona Diamondbacks — 2
25t. Colorado Rockies — 1
25t. Los Angeles/Anaheim Angels — 1
25t. Milwaukee Brewers — 1
25t. Washington Nationals — 1
30. Seattle Mariners — zero

Is it possible that the Mets could make up the 3 dozen WS appearances deficit to the Yankees by, say, the year 2200?  No, I did not think so. Not even with Juan Soto for the next 76 seasons.

POPCORN AND AN EASY CHAIR

I am sitting back, nice and comfy, and wondering what Mr. Stearns will do to successfully complete this off season. I am not burning a million brain cells as to who he signs and who he trades for. He knows what he needs to do. I’m just sitting back with popcorn, patiently and without stress waiting to be dazzled.

Stress was “the days when Wilpons did a deal, and you sat there thinking, OK, good, but they need to do more.” And they just DIDN’T. And you kind of knew that beforehand.

Wilpons’ grand total of luxury taxes while they owned the team? ZERO.

MIKE TROUT, ANYONE?

The Angels are likely to go nowhere fast.  Like ever.  

They owe Mike Trout $37 million per year. 

For 6 L..O..N..G years.  2025-2030.

- Should the Mets trade for him as DH? 

The Angels perhaps could eat $20 million per year of his salary, with the Mets paying $17 million per, and give him someone like Drew Gilbert as a player in the trade. Playing DH might help him stay healthy. 

No lonber tremendous speed.  But…Tremendous power.