Nastiest Pitches in MLB History
Phil Niekro’s Knuckleball
The knuckleball is perhaps the most mind-boggling pitch in baseball. Every young baseball player has tried to throw a knuckleball while playing with their friends in the backyard. However, very few come close to perfecting it. Recently, it is becoming increasingly rare to find a knuckleballer in the bigs. Right now, Steven Wright is the only known knuckleballer in the MLB, but has recently been released by the Red Sox and announced that he will undergo Tommy John surgery.
The knuckleball very well may be going extinct. However, when mastered, it has proven to be one of the most frustrating pitches for opposing batters. The low spin rate leads to unpredictable movement that is difficult for the pitcher to control, the catcher to catch, but most importantly, for the hitter to hit. Its low velocity has allowed some of the best knuckleballers like R.A. Dickey and Tim Wakefield to extend their careers well into their 40s. However, no knuckleballer had a more durable and illustrious career than Hall of Famer Phil Niekro.
Phil and his brother Joe Niekro learned the knuckleball at an early from their father, who was a semipro knuckleballer himself. While Joe enjoyed a respectable career with his knuckleball, Phil is the undisputed master. Phil was a 5x All-Star and Gold Glove winner, while being the only knuckleballer to win over 300 games in his career.
Niekro played until the ripe age of 48, ending his career with the most innings pitched of any pitcher in the live-ball era (5,404 IP). He earned a plaque in Cooperstown in 1997, where his legacy as the nastiest knuckleballer ever still lives on. Perhaps the depleted knuckleball community will be blessed with a new messiah to save their dying breed in the near future. Until then, Phil Niekro sits alone at top of the knuckleball throne.