Steven Wright’s three-year quest to get knuckleball tips directly from New York Mets right-hander R.A. Dickey finally materialized during spring training through a chance encounter.
Wright, a minor league pitcher with the Cleveland Indians, was playing alone at Palm Valley Golf Club in Goodyear, Ariz., where his wife, Shannon, works, after having returned from winter ball, when he met another solo golfer and struck up a conversation. That man, Kirby Arnold, a retired sportswriter for the Everett (Wash.) Herald, formerly covered the Seattle Mariners and had maintained a relationship with Dickey.
Arnold set up an email exchange between Dickey and Wright, which led to an hour-long spring training tutorial by phone. Now, the 27-year-old Wright scrutinizes each of Dickey’s outings on a laptop from the Double-A Akron Aeros clubhouse, and is on a path toward becoming the second active knuckleballer in the majors….
A survey of the 30 major league organizations found only two active knuckleballers besides Dickey—Wright and Chicago Cubs farmhand Joe Zeller, who was transferred to Class A Boise last week, from Daytona in the Florida State League.
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1. Fernigal McGunnigle has become a merry hat Posted: June 26, 2012 at 08:29 PM (#4167250)So there are two active knuckleballers!
The article says that Wright's fastball touches 90, and he also has a sinker and a cutter and throws his knuckleball 65 to 85 percent of the time. So he's more a Tom Candiotti-type than a pure knuckleballer.
"some people are afraid of heights..I'm afraid of widths"
"The ice cream truck in my neighborhood plays 'Helter Skelter.'"
"A friend of mine has a trophy wife, but apparently it wasn't first place."
Why do we park in the driveway and drive on the parkway?
Because you're too lazy to clean out your garage?
Because it goes through a park.
"I bet you slice into the woods, a hundred bucks!"
WTF was his wife doing playing winter ball?
And I said "yes, but I don't believe everything I read".
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