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Knuckler:
My
Life
with
Baseball's
Most
Confounding
Pitch
by
Tim
Wakefield
At
forty-four
years
old,
Tim
Wakefield
is
the
longest-serving
member
of
one
of
baseball’s
most
popular
franchises.
He
is
close
to
eclipsing
the
winning
records
of
two
of
the
greatest
pitchers
to
have
played
the
game,
yet
few
realize
the
full
measure
of
his
success.
That
his
career
can
be
characterized
by
such
words
as
dependability
and
consistency
defies
all
odds
because
he
has
achieved
this
with
baseball’s
most
mercurial
weapon—the
knuckleball.
Knuckler
is
the
story
of
how
a
struggling
position
player
bet
his
future
on
a
fickle
pitch
that
would
define
his
career.
The
pitch
may
drive
hitters
crazy,
but
how
does
the
pitcher
stay
sane?
The
moment
Wakefield
adopted
the
knuckleball,
his
career
sought
to
answer
that
question.
With
the
Red
Sox,
Wakefield
began
to
master
his
pitch
only
to
find
himself
on
the
mound
in
2003
for
one
of
the
worst
post-season
losses
in
history,
followed
the
next
year
by
one
of
the
most
vindicating
of
championships.
Even
now,
as
Wakefield
battles,
we
see
the
twists
and
turns
of
a
major
league
career
pushed
to
its
ultimate
extreme.
A
remarkable
story
of
one
player’s
success
despite
being
the
exception
to
every
rule,
Knuckler
is
also
a
lively
meditation
on
the
dancing
pitch,
its
history,
its
mystique,
and
all
the
ironies
it
brings
to
bear.
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