Tom Brennan - Where Are Today’s Audacious Knuckleball Entrepreneurs? - JEFF KENT

 

CY YOUNG WINNER RA DICKEY

I wrote this article previously, and thought I’d tweak and repost it. 

Can you imagine what these knuckle guys below would have made in career earnings if they played today? 

Bazillions.

Where are today’s aspiring pitchers, who are good, but know their normal stuff won’t give them a REAL MLB CAREER, in terms of adding a knuckleball in pursuing that chance to earn mega-millions in a long career in America’s pastime game?

The first guy below pitched incredibly well in recent years with the knuckler, and made lots of $$$ doing so.

On to my repost: 

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. He looked like high minors filler.

But on a cold, damp AAA night in Buffalo early in 2010, televised on regular TV because he NY Mets were off, he gave up a first inning hit…and nothing else.  A 1 hit shutout. He went 4-2, 2.23 in AAA, and got called up. He fooled them all, all the doubters, going 11-9, 2.84 after the call up. His Mets record that year would have been better but he (so typically) got poor run support. 

In very short order, though, 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. With good run support, he should have won 45-50 games. 

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, studiously and in earnest, was excellent in AAA in 2010 with the Mets, called up to exceedingly skeptical fans, and excelled. 

He added years to his career and lots of salary to his bank account because he had the guts to develop and stick with that pitch. 

He won 120 games, started 300 games, and relieved in 100 games.

Great decision by R.A. 

While others chuckled, he knuckled, and hitters’ knees buckled.

He joined heady company. 

Seven other knuckleballers of great 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: 

Brother Joe’s 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: 

My cousin Wilbur was having at best marginal success early in his career, then 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. 

FINALLY…MICKEY JANNIS

More recently, Mickey Jannis pitched in the minors in AA and AAA for the Mets, with decent success, but couldn’t replicate the Dickey Knuckleball Magic.

Jannis (imagine if he had been from Mantle’s old hometown of Joplin, which would make him Jannis Joplin) had a single unsuccessful cup of coffee game in the majors with the Orioles. 

The knuckleball isn’t a sure-fire ticket to success and fame. But at least he made it for that one MLB game, something the former 44th rounder would have never pulled off with just his traditional insufficient pitching repertoire.

Thoughts???

AND NO…

I am not learning the knuckleball.  

I’ve already mastered the screwball. You all know that instinctively.

But I am throttling down my off season article scribbling….one a week in December, then see you when the season starts next April.  Mack’s Mets has recently added friggin’ killer writers, so I am taking a long overdue sabbatical after a reduced pace of December missives.  

And, heck…Ray is back, after making so many holes-in-one he got bored. 

As I throttle back, I will never, though, stop asking for shorter Citi fences.  

People started thinking about Kyle Schwarber possibly becoming a Met…but he has hit .198 in Citi Field.  

The fence depths - are they Kyle’s culprit? I dunno.  

Lastly, I saw this in a Mets Trade Rumors article the other day - this is why the Mets collapsed in 2025:

“Only the Rockies, Nationals and Angels had a higher second-half ERA from their rotation than the Mets’ 5.31 mark.”

“Nolan McLean looks like a budding frontline starter, but he’s their only pitcher who allowed fewer than 4.20 earned runs per nine after the All-Star Break.”

- Where is R.A. Dickey when you really need him?

WINTER MEETINGS IN ORLANDO STARTED LAST NIGHT.

Ex-New York Mets second baseman, Jeff Kent, was voted into Baseball’s Hall Of Fame on Sunday night. He received 87% of the votes. He will be inducted in Cooperstown, New York, on July 26, 2026.

Jeff Kent

2B/3B/1B    RHH    6-1    185    20^TH rd. 1989 by Toronto

Career:    55.4-WAR    8,498-AB    377-HR    .290

Jeff Kent is a retired American professional baseball player, widely regarded as one of the greatest offensive second basemen in Major League Baseball (MLB) history.

Early Life and College Career

Kent grew up in Huntington Beach, California, where he attended Edison High School. A standout hitter, he set a school record with a .500 batting average as a junior in 1985 but was briefly dismissed from the team after clashing with his coach over a position change to second base.

He later starred at the University of California, Berkeley (Cal), helping the Golden Bears reach the College World Series in 1988.

MLB Career Highlights

Kent debuted with the Blue Jays in 1992, quickly establishing himself as a power threat at second base—a position not typically known for home runs. His career spanned six teams: Toronto Blue Jays (1992), New York Mets (1992–1996), Cleveland Indians (1996), San Francisco Giants (1997–2002), Houston Astros (2003–2004), and Los Angeles Dodgers (2005–2008).

Key achievements include:

2000 NL MVP: With the Giants, Kent hit .334 with 33 home runs and a league-leading 125 RBIs, powering San Francisco to the best record in baseball. He was the first second baseman to win MVP since Joe Morgan in 1976.

All-Star Selections: Five times (1998, 2000–2001, 2003, 2005).

Silver Slugger Awards: Four (2000–2002, 2005).

World Series Appearances: Mets (2000) and Giants (2002).

Kent's tenure with the Giants was his most productive, where he formed a potent duo with Barry Bonds—despite their well-documented tensions.

He retired in 2008 after a postseason slump with the Dodgers, ending his career with a .290 batting average.

Career Statistics

Kent holds the all-time record for home runs by a second baseman (377), surpassing Ryne Sandberg's mark. He ranks 20th in doubles (560), 47th in RBIs (1,518), and 62nd in home runs among all players at retirement. Below is a summary of his season-by-season performance.

My thoughts?

JEFF KENT IS IN THE HALL OF FAME BECAUSE….

I’LL JUST BLURT IT OUT…

HE ESCAPED THE METS.

THERE, I SAID IT.

He escaped from the team from Queens that has never had a home grown Hall of Fame hitter, nor a hitting MVP.

Darryl? No. 

David? No. 

Jose? No. 

Pete? No, at least most likely no.

Sure, Kent technically wasn’t home-grown, the Mets got Kent early on in a deal…but he had fewer than 200 at bats from his original team before migrating to Queens.

He came to pitchers’ park Shea Stadium, and did OK with the Mets in his 1,831 at bats, but clearly not a HOF pace:

.279/.327/.453. 

We hope even sure-fire non-Hall of Famer Brett Baty can do that in 2026.

Thereafter, in 6,657 ABs, after his daring Queens escape, Kent ROCKED!  

He put up clear-cut HOF caliber numbers…as a post-Met…

.293, 462 doubles, 37 triples, 310 HRs, 1,251 RBIs, 82 of 126 in steals.

Being a Met for 498 games almost cost Kent the Hall of Fame.  

He escaped in the nick of time.

It was his Shawshank Redemption.

Parks do matter.  

After all, in the ultimate hitter’s paradise, Coors Field, Kent did this:

.368/.436/.686. 

Compare that to his “nice” .279/.327/.453 numbers as a Met.

Steve Cohen, if you ever want a Mets hitter MVP, or a home-grown HOF Mets hitter…

Move the fences in. 

Or just rename the park Shawshank Stadium.

The place Hall of Fame candidates want to escape.