Word: knucklers
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...least one at bat and play an inning in the field. The result, after five hours: 23-6. There were no bad scenes. Cubs Veteran Oliver, caught in a rundown, pretended to drop dead. But there were genuine heroic moments too. Ignoring Catcher Marzelli's call for a knuckler, Peoria Corn Farmer Ken Schwab, 55, who had pitched for an Army team more than a quarter-century ago, "reached back a few years for the best fast ball I could find," and struck Ernie Banks out swinging. Catcher Albano and Short stop Ike Ackerman, a 44-year-old Iowa...
...shudder the fat men and the bald men in the knickers and the beanies, "well. . ." Well, it's over, that's all. You can lose a step, even two. You can lose the hop on your fastball, though you may have to learn a knuckler. But if you ever grow up, you can't be a Lost Boy any more. Sorry, those are the rules of never-never land...
...Brothers Niekro are masters of the knuckler...
Phil has been throwing the knuckler ever since he came up with the Braves in 1964, a rarity since the pitch is usually mastered in desperation by aging veterans. Joe started as a fireballer who played with the Chicago Cubs in 1967, then bounced around from club to club as his fastball faded. In 1972, when he was sent to the minors, those backyard sessions finally asserted their hold: Joe perfected the knuckleball. In 1975 he joined the Astros, who now have a flutter at the pennant...
Atlanta's Phil Niekro, who helped his brother master the knuckler, now watches his success with wistful pleasure: "It's great that we're both having good years, but I'd like to play on a contending club, feel what it's like to go into a clubhouse every day and know you're going to be in the thick of a pennant race." The experience, Joe says, is so good it's almost like the old days in the backyard. "Pitching for me now," says Joe Niekro, "is just like going...