(07-27-2023 07:12 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(07-27-2023 06:58 PM)stinkfist Wrote:  

(07-27-2023 06:44 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(07-27-2023 06:33 PM)stinkfist Wrote:  

(07-27-2023 05:50 PM)JRsec Wrote:  There was a reliever for a while who mastered it, it's a senior moment because I can picture his face but can't recall the name. He was white and played in the 60's and maybe into the early 70s. But it is a lost art. I caught two of my cousins, one played pro ball in the minors got called up for a tryout with the Braves was offered a contract and decided he was homesick for the farm. He had a great knuckler and a solid fast ball. Two pitches really. That was back in the 70's. You have to have a solid 3 pitch repertoire today to make a roster and 4 is preferred. The other made more money from patents for inventions than pitching and he was the older brother. I just know I had to wear a glove on my mitt hand to handle them. And man, I wouldn't have wanted to stand in the box against them. Both were intentionally wild and didn't mind plunking you.

I think the other was Wilhelm. Man time flies, I was initially off by almost 20 years for his active period.

there's a documentary (once was on Netflix) called "Knuckleballer" ... if you're a baseball fan, it's a must watch...

Wakefield is a hoot (as any knuckle'head') ...

to the point of the post ... I watched both Niekros as often as I could ... also, in my youth, I had to catch a junk ball pitcher ... he had 4 pitches ... none that were a fastball ... I screwed with so many batters' brains when he was on the mound ... nobody knew where it was going at times ...

RIP, Phil ... you were a gem!

Man, I grew up on MLB, but quit watching after juiced players and juiced balls in the 90's. I stick to watching college ball now. It's fun to watch the kids having fun.

My heroes as a kid were the usual Mays, Mantle, Aaron, Marris, Ted Williams, and my ultimate was Brooks Robinson. Loved to watch that guy play third. I met Aaron at a hospital in Atlanta. We both waited on news together in the waiting room. No autographs, just discussion about his wife Billye and the single mom who had breast cancer that I drove up there. Unlike with many, he was still a hero of mine when I left. Solid man!

yeah, man ... you were reared during the best times of baseball ... however, where's Stan the Man in that list ...

pops used to go to the ol' Sportsman's Park every game during the summer months ... his father had season tickets 20 rows up dead behind the plate for 60 years ... pops is also an SLU EE and worked on the engineering crew (straight out of college when I was born) that designed the electrical plans for what is now know as Old Busch Stadium...

I don't miss StL a single bit anymore ... but the years from '65 to '74 were the best times of my life ... and w/o question, I still love muh Cards and Blues (took 50 years to win their only Stanley Cup)

Stan the Man likely like Gehrig before him just showed up and did the job in a workman like fashion and was understated. Yaz was okay, I just didn't like the Red Sox. Ted Williams once told an umpire that the mound was an inch and a quarter too high. The ump humored him, had it measured and it was exactly an inch and a quarter too high. In Korea where Ted flew Sabres he took a hit and was advised to bail out. He examined his cockpit, realized it would damage his kneecaps to punch out, and brought her for a belly landing and walked away. He was not as chummy as the public would like, but he was his own man. Kudos Splendid Splinter. I'm guessing you were close to the right age for Matty, Manny, and Felipe Alou? I know you are a Cardinals fan.

the Alou family ... yeah, I remember the family ...

Moises was the stud (Filepe's son) ... he should be in the Hall when you have a career BA > .300 and an .885 OPS, you're a bad mothertrucker at the plate...

and w/o question, Williams was one of the cockiest to ever play the game AND back it up ... I'd compare him to Cobb in that category, but Cobb was just a mean/dirty SOB ... kinda the way I played it ...

I have two of Williams '57 cards grade 8 (thank you, pops) ... you should see his baseball card collection ... in today's $$$, it's worth at least a quarter mil ... where he fk'd up was hating the Yankees ... not one Mantle card (sigh) ... he has Yogi, Maris, Ford, Rizzuto, Howard and a few others from that era...