#knuckleballs float forever

[oldtimefamilybaseball]

The Red Sox, Hoping to Finally Pause Time Like in That Movie 'Click', Call up Knuckler Steven Wright

For 19 years, 17 of them with Boston, Tim Wakefield battled the forces of time, those things that wrinkle our skin and keep us from being able to enjoy concerts because “what, they can’t put a damn chair in this club? I mean, how hard would that be?” By continually honing his dancing, floating knuckler, Wakefield thought he was on the precipice of discovering the correct formula, hoping to eventually pause the rotation of the Earth, even if just for a few minutes. Sadly, his body eventually gave way to the ravages of Time and he left the league, hoping that RA Dickey would be able to continue his research.  But with Dickey now in Canada, where, because of border restrictions, we view time differently, the Red Sox knew they needed someone to put a pin in mankind’s endless forward progression. Today, they did that by calling up Steven Wright. 

Wright, only in his third season of knuckleballing and research into the existence of quark bombs, anti-matter reversals, and energy-storing TIMEBALLS, has struck out 11 batters in 10 innings with Pawtucket this season, his first in AAA. While it’s unlikely that Wright will last very long in Boston, this being mostly a stop gap until the Red Sox pitching staff is once again, we actually won’t really know how long Wright will be up. Because, as I’ve outlined in this hyper intelligent piece, time will have stopped. You dig? 

[oldtimefamilybaseball]

Steven Wright: The Red Sox's Next Knuckleballer

Blogathon 2013 continues to roll on, going deep into the morning. If you haven't donated to Doctors Without Borders yet, please do what you can. We are closing in on $2,000 and are well on our way towards $3,000. If you can't donate, please help spread the word. Every little bit counts. 

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I think we can all agree that knuckleballers are pretty special. They're to be cherished like a four leaf clover or a Daniel Day Lewis film as they don't come around all that often. With Tim Wakefield now retired and RA Dickey fresh off his amazing Cy Young season and headed to Canada, where can a lonely nation turn their eyes to for inspiration? 

If the Red Sox have any say in the matter, it will be in Pawtuckett. Or hell, let's go bananas and say Boston. Yeah, the 28-year-old Steven Wright, hurler of the knuckler for only two seasons, could be in Boston next year even after only 39 innings above AAA. Now that he's in Red Sox camp, there's a good chance he'll get to meet Tim Wakefield and can be gifted with the fairy dust of the eternals. 

Said Wright: 

"I’m not 100 percent sure, but rumors say that he might come down for a little bit,” Wright said. “I know he lives in Florida. If he doesn’t come down to me, I’ll go to him. It’s that beneficial to me.”

If you saw "Knuckleball" a film which I'm not ashamed to admit made me tear up, you'll know that knuckleballers have their own cadre, their own secret witches covens where they exchange secrets and howl at the moon when the veil between the worlds are thinnest. 

Last year, between two levels, Wright went 10-7 with a 2.54 ERA despite a 4.4 BB/9. That's high, but not absurd for a knuckleballer and hopefully with a little more practice with the pitch and some help from Wakefield and a lot of luck, there can be a new pitcher who possesses the skill of the floating pitch in the rotation in 2013. 

[oldtimefamilybaseball]

Over at the Hall of Very Good, I have a piece up on the world's first knuckleballer, Toad Ramsey. A little taste: 

"Ramsey, whose given name was Thomas, earned his nickname by being a tub of goo that quite literally looked “like a toad.” Which is quite an accomplishment considering that Hot Pockets and cookie butter were still decades from being invented.  He was also the world’s first baseball magician; the first player to throw those floating, flitting, cross-dimensional pitches known as The Knuckleball.

Just as Bruce Wayne needed to lose his parents to become a crime fighter and John Henry Kellogg needed to give enemas to sanitarium patients so he could invent corn flakes, Ramsey had to undergo personal tragedy to ascend to his pitching throne. While working as a bricklayer, Ramsey sliced the tendon of his index finger with a trowel, forcing him to hold the baseball with the tip of his finger."

For the rest of the article, which I know for a fact you'll want to read (because why wouldn't you?) you'll have to click through. So go ahead. Do it. I'll still be here when you get back. 

[oldtimefamilybaseball]

It's still nice to see Tim Wakefield float a few knucklers up there on Opening Day, even if it's in his new role as mop-up man.

[oldtimefamilybaseball]

Until you actually see me sit down at that press conference and say that I'm going to retire, I wouldn't count on anything right now. I just said it last year -- that [2011] could be my last year, depending on my role or what might happen health-wise, but I'm not closing that door yet by no means.

Tim Wakefield on his future. I'm not going to lie, the mere possibility of Wakefield continuing to pitch after this season has sent a massive rush of endorphins through my body, making me impervious to pain or the fact that the weekend is still 12 hours away.