The Knucklebook: Everything You Need to Know About Baseball's Strangest Pitch - the Knuckleball [Hardcover]

Dave Clark (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 30, 2005

This little book will teach you all you need to know about the most frustrating yet entertaining pitch in baseball: the knuckleball. It makes batters look foolish when it works; it embarrasses pitchers when it doesn't...or if it works too well. It humiliates catchers and umpires. It confounds spectators. Dave Clark has spent most of a lifetime studying the knuckleball, talking to the major league pitchers who have thrown it, and throwing a few of his own. His book explains the strange workings of the pitch and how it's used, no matter what your interest—whether you're a pitcher, batter, catcher, umpire, coach, spectator, or parent of any of the above. Everything Mr. Clark demonstrates in The Knucklebook is carefully illustrated with line drawings, so if you're an average high school pitcher who can throw strikes, you'll be able to throw a knuckleball exactly like a legendary Hall of Famer. You'll find appropriate and hilarious comments from those who have experienced the game of baseball as it's been affected by the wandering floater. Like those who throw the knuckler, all this information was scattered to far-flung corners of the baseball world until Mr. Clark gathered and compiled it. Reading his little book, you'll end up less mystified and more enlightened about this antic pitch. Or, like the pitch itself, you can just ride the breezes and enjoy the dancing flight from beginning to end. With 51 black-and-white line drawings.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The subtitle gets it right: the knuckleball is a very strange pitch. It is released with very little velocity and drifts toward home plate with very little rotation. It seems subject to all manner of influences from barometric pressure to wind velocity and maybe even the gravitational pull of the moon. Clark, a professional photographer with no demonstrable connection to baseball beyond being a fan, interviewed a number of the knuckleball's greatest practitioners, including Hoyt Wilhelm, Wilbur Wood, Phil Niekro, and Tim Wakefield, the only major leaguer currently using the knuckler as his primary pitch. In this thin little book, Clark explains why a knuckler knuckles as well as how to throw it, hit it, coach it, and ump it. It's nicely written, well organized, well illustrated (with drawings and diagrams), and imbued with an engaging sense of whimsy. It's also scheduled for publication in the spring, when all the over-the-hill hurlers turned civilians can try out Clark's techniques in that one last chance to make the Big Show. Charming fun for baseball fans. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

A comprehensive look inside the world of the fluttering and frustrating—for hitters anyway—pitch. (Todd Piken Metro Daily News )

It's nicely written, well organized, well illustrated and imbued with an engaging sense of whimsy. (Booklist )

A guide to every aspect of baseball's most elusive pitch....explaining how and why the pitch is used. (Forecast )

Like the knucklebook itself, The Knucklebook frustrates and delights.... Mr. Clark is terrific....Colorful and interesting stuff. (Jonathan Eig Wall Street Journal )

A little gem.... After reading it, I am confident I can not only teach the knuckler but also throw a decent one myself. (John Curtis San Diego Union-Tribune )

The world's greatest collector of knuckleball lore. (Ron Berthel Scranton Sunday Times )

There’s no pitch as magical as the knuckleball. Dave Clark is showing off the magician’s tricks but instead of breaking the illusion, he opens new doors. The knuckleball is given new life here, dancing through our minds as it dances through the air. Clark masterfully breaks down the pitch, the mindset, and could save the pitch from extinction with this important work. (Will Carroll )

If there is anyone alive who knows more about this ever-baffling, fluttering pitch than Dave Clark, he is either retired from, headed to, or currently in the Major Leagues on the strength of his knuckles. And even then, my money’s on Dave. (Ben McGrath New Yorker )

Nicely written, well organized, well illustrated...and imbued with an engaging sense of whimsy. (Wes Lukowsky Booklist )

They say that '40 is the new 30.' If that's true, then I figure I've still got a shot at becoming the next Hoyt Wilhelm. Step 1? Memorizing every single page of Dave Clark's The Knucklebook. (Rob Neyer Espn.Com )

Dave Clark delivers a resounding strike with his in-depth coverage of baseball's most baffling pitch. (John Kuenster Baseball Digest )

Quirky to say the least. (Melissa McKeon The Community Journal )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Ivan R. Dee (November 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566636612
• ISBN-13: 978-1566636612
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #404,614 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Knucklebook, April 7, 2006

By 

Mel L. Barclay (Ann Arbor, MI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Knucklebook: Everything You Need to Know About Baseball's Strangest Pitch - the Knuckleball (Hardcover)

I've been throwing the knuckler for a long time and have pined for a technical, historical, and personal history of this wonder of nature. Anyone who wants to know more about how to throw, catch, hit, or call this pitch needs to read this book. Specific information from famous knuckleball pitchers regarding grip and throwing mechanics are not available elsewhere.It's also funny.

I do suspect that the physicists have the explanation wrong and that its strange irregularities are more related to relativistic properties than chaotic airflow patterns.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Greatest Collection of Knuckleball Information, July 6, 2010

By 

RAZOR - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Knucklebook: Everything You Need to Know About Baseball's Strangest Pitch - the Knuckleball (Hardcover)

This book has the greatest collection of knuckleball information. It is a must read for anyone who wants to throw or learn the knuckleball. It includes pictures of the grips of the most famous knuckleballers including Tim Wakefield, Phil Neikro, and Hoyt Wilhem. The only con is that there is not much information on how you hit, umpire, and catch the pitch. However, as a pitcher myself, I rate this book among the best baseball

5.0 out of 5 stars The Knucklebook is Excellent !, March 27, 2008

By 

RICHARD B. DONDES (East Brunswick, NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Knucklebook: Everything You Need to Know About Baseball's Strangest Pitch - the Knuckleball (Hardcover)

Within 2 weeks of my 16 year old son reading this book and practicing the techniques, he was throwing a consistent (85% of the time) knuckleball that had excellent movement. I highly recommend this book.