Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun baseball A
pitch thrown with the ball gripped on the fingertips and released with norotation which travels over anunpredictable path to theplate due to micro-turbulence in the air. - noun An event that is hard to predict.
- verb intransitive, baseball To pitch knuckleballs.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a baseball pitch thrown with little speed or spin
Etymologies
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Examples
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League Championship Series, Wakefield's knuckleball is still dancing.
USATODAY.com 2003
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"The knuckleball is one of the toughest balls to hit," said
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Wakefield throws a knuckleball, which is indeed extremely unpredictable. — cephyn
Why Don’t Sports Teams Use Randomization? A Guest Post - Freakonomics Blog - NYTimes.com 2007
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His repertoire includes a knuckleball, which is always intriguing.
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In baseball, this pitch is known as a knuckleball, and neither pitcher nor batter has much idea of its exact flight path.
Soccer's Knuckleball 2006
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The origins of the knuckleball are a bit murky, as four different pitchers have been said to have invented a non-spinning pitch thrown off the knuckles or the fingertips at roughly the same time.
The Neyer/James Guide To Pitchers Bill James Rob Neyer 2004
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One was the pitch we now call the knuckleball; the other was a pitch thrown much harder and with a different break, but also called a knuckleball see entries on Eddie Rommel, Ben Cantwell, Jesse Haines and Freddie Fitzsimmons.
The Neyer/James Guide To Pitchers Bill James Rob Neyer 2004
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In writing about the knuckleball, I noted that, in the 1920s, there were two quite distinct pitches being thrown, both called the knuckleball.
The Neyer/James Guide To Pitchers Bill James Rob Neyer 2004
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With the terminology not yet standardized, this fingernail fling was quite likely what we now call a knuckleball.
The Neyer/James Guide To Pitchers Bill James Rob Neyer 2004
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Also in 1908, Ed Summers became known for a pitch called a “dry spitter,” but a photo shows a pitch gripped with the first knuckles on the index and middle finger; that is, a knuckleball in the most literal sense.
The Neyer/James Guide To Pitchers Bill James Rob Neyer 2004
skipvia commented on the word knuckleball
See also knuckle ball.
February 12, 2008