Ah, the knuckleball.

Almost nobody throws it anymore: the crazy pitch with the finger crooked behind it that, when it’s doing what it’s supposed to, makes Hall of Famers look like Little League.  Here’s a video that approximates what a batter sees when a knuckleballer is on his game.

A knuckleball isn’t a fast pitch, since it relies on location.  Tim Wakefield, the big leagues’ current knuckler, throws his anywhere from 58-70 miles an hour, varying it with a 75 MpH fastball.  It isn’t a pitch with challenging mechanics: a pitcher can commonly throw 120 in an outing, and can keep doing it for years upon years–Wakefield, who was drafted as the world’s tallest corner infielder, turned 43 last week and just made his very first All Star Team.

The knuckleball has some serious history, by baseball standards–it was first thrown as we know it today in the early decades of the 20th century.  Now, we’re down to only 12 people who’ve thrown either a knuckle or the related, but more common knuckle-curve….in this millenium. It’s a piece of baseball history that’s all but disappearing, and UPH can’t figure out why.

So why don’t more pitchers throw it?

The knuckler is notoriously hard to catch, it’s true.  But part of the reason nobody knows how to catch one anymore is that nobody’s throwing one for them to catch.  Take a look at the roster of your current favorite college team.  Just for fun, we’ll go with the LSU Tigers, last year’s College World Series champions.  On last year’s roster, they have a freshman named Randy Zeigler, an infielder and pitcher: his senior year of high school he batted .512 with 12 homers, while posting a 10-3 record with 129 Ks as a pitcher.  His junior season, his ERA was sub-2.00 with 152 strikeouts in only 86 innings pitched.

Unfortunately, he had Tommyjohn surgery .  He’s now transferred from LSU and will play for UL-Monroe after he sits out the obligatory year. To us, this looks like a talent, but it’s hard to know how he’ll come back from surgery. Why not up his draftabillity as well as his utility to his college team by teaching him to throw a knuckler?

It makes any prospect beyond a huge power bat or a fiery fastball hurler more attractive.  At schools with few scholarships to give, it might even make financial sense to keep more pitchers on the roster who are also position players, and who throw a knuckler.

Right now, a knuckleball would be a huge advantage, since nobody knows how to catch it, let alone hit it.

So why is it almost gone?