R.A. Dickey and the Physics of the Knuckleball 

We're fans of some well-executed knuckleballs

Bob Uecker: "The way to catch a knuckleball is to wait until it stops rolling and then pick it up."

Wait, I thought I had Physics 2nd period

Bartolo Colon is absolutely one of the wonders of baseball

This is the man that kept Josh Thole (Catcher) employed

Great video SRS! I've been a proud subscriber for the last year, and I've loved all the content! Keep it up!

Dickey’s autobiography Wherever I wind up is absolutely amazing. Such a great guy

We need more knuckleballers in baseball.

“just look for the seams and hit between them.” -harmon killebrew on how to hit a knuckleball

The documentary Dickey was featured in (I think it’s actually called “Knuckleball”) is worth a watch. The knuckleball is a pitch for survival. It’s the pitch people work on when they’re on the verge of getting cut.

When one reads "Ball Four" by Jim Bouton, you'll see how much opposition coaches have to pitchers developing the knuckleball. It's a pitch you have to be totally dedicated to. And now with the heavy reliance on sabermetrics, it would be challenging for a knuckleball pitcher to get the innings necessary and the trust of a manager to be a starting pitcher and downright impossible to be a reliever.

I remember playing catch with my dad, after dinner. It was an everyday thing growing up. And the first time he throw me a knuckler. I remember looking at him like he just throw magic at me.

To add a little more context, lift force is created by 2 factors, airspeed and pressure difference. In the case of a plane, the wing is shaped in a specific way with a curved top of the wing and semi-flat bottom of the wing where the back of the wing points down. The air adheres to the curve at the top of the wing and speeds up. Two things happen because of this: 1. Since the airspeed on the bottom of the wing is slower than the airspeed on the top, the air pressure below the wing is higher than the air pressure above it(basically the air on the bottom of the wing is pushing the wing up more than the air on the top of the wing is pushing the wing down). This means that lift force is created in the upward direction. 2. Since the back of the wing is pointed downward, the fast air coming off of the wing is pointed in a downward direction, also adding to the lift force(newton's third law, all actions have an equal and opposite reaction. The air is pointed down, so it exerts an opposite force on the plane). Now to put that into perspective on a baseball, when a baseball spins, it creates a pressure difference between the sides of the ball by accelerating air in the direction of the spin(creating lower pressure) and by decelerating air on the opposite side of the ball(creating higher pressure. I definitely suggest looking up an image for this because it makes it much clearer.), leading the ball to travel in the direction that has lower pressure. The reason a knuckle ball is confusing is because despite not spinning, it moves erratically. (Also im not an expert in aerodynamics either, I just have tried to study it in my free time, so if anyone more experienced in that field would like to correct me or add to what i said, I would really appreciate it!)

These are the most important physics I ever Learned.

The knuckleball will always be a baseball gem, especially in OOTP. Great vid guys!

I'm really proud of you

I'm Brazilian and I absolutely lost it at the pombo sem asa reference

This was my primary pitch in high school too. I’ve watched every video on the pitch that exists on RU-vid and I love learning more about it. Great video!

5:20: “So I’m walking a path with guardrails on either side of me” Idk but to me it looks more like you’ve got a dude violently vibrating trying to avoid the fences. Like the worst game of operation I’ve ever seen.

One big difference between Dickey and other k-ballers was he consistently threw it at a higher velocity (77-80 MPH), which gave the hitter less time to track the pitch as it came into the plate. Another fun fact and probably the most intriguing: 𝑹𝑨 𝑫𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒐𝒓𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒂 𝑼𝑪𝑳 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒊𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒍𝒃𝒐𝒘. Yes, you read that right, hence the bold font. This is a ligament that when torn or damaged can end a baseball career. It's also crucial to even turn a doorknob. Since Dickey didn't have the ligament and nobody told him he didn't have one or that he needed it for his arm to function normally, he just grew up as if it was there the whole time. Not only that, but he pushed the envelope and fooled his arm into pitching in professional baseball. Of course, he wasn't really fooling his arm because as I said, nobody knew his UCL wasn't there;.until draft day that is. The Texas Rangers drafted him 18th overall and offered him a $800K signing bonus. Well, seems some nosy, buzzkill doctor who should have minded his own beeswax called the Rangers and said: "Hey, would you make me the team doctor and pay me a sh|t ton of money if I told you a secret about your bigtime first rounder? I saw a photo of that kid and his arm looked strange. I suggest you send him in for some testing." OK, I made the part up about the MD wanting to be the team doctor (as far as I know), but the Rangers did listen to him and promptly followed his advice. Of course, you know the outcome. Rangers: "Hey Dickey! Not only should you not be able to pitch, but you shouldn't even be able to groom yourself with that arm! You tricked us and we aren't happy!" After finding out that RA had no idea his UCL was missing, they weren't as mad but they did drop their signing offer to $75K. What a sucker punch to the gut that was for RA. However, instead of hunting down said loud mouth doctor and whacking him like Morrie, he signed the offer with no bitterness and as we know, he went on to become the best K-baller in baseball for a few years and the only one to ever win a Cy Young. In that season, he was 20-6 with a 2.73 ERA. He pitched 233 innings, struck out 233, had 5 complete games and 2 shutouts. Yeah, the squirrely movement of a knuckleball is mind bending, but getting it to move like that at 78 MPH is mind blowing. Yes, other K-ballers could hit those velocities, but not on a regular basis and it would also flatten the pitch out, which wasn't good. While the knuckleball isn't supposed to move as erratically at the upper range, with Dickey, that wasn't the case. It was this that separated him from the rest. But, he unbelievably (and contradictory to the pitch he was throwing) had great control as well and didn't walk many hitters. Oh and I guess that missing a UCL might have had something to do with it too. DIckey retired very recently in 2017 at age 42. I have no doubt that he could go right back out there and pitch again with his rubber arm.

I've gotten pretty good at throwing the knuckleball recently, been working on it for little over a year. Thank you for covering this lesser-known topic!

No lie, the Knuckle ball is my favorite thing in baseball. I LOVE it. Greetings from The Netherlands.

Understanding knuckleball mechanics is one of the problems that inspired me to major in Mech & Aero Engineering in college. I finally figured it out in my senior year when I took my 2nd semester fluid dynamics class. It has everything to do with Reynolds Number and vortex shedding, so it's too bad the video didn't discuss that.

I'm a huge mets fan and when he was with us he was amazing in 2012. But he was such a humble , really humble, and appreciative guy to be where he was. The trade was worth it for both mets and Jays.

When I was a kid in the mid 1950s, my friends and I bought Whiffle Balls and used to goof around throwing all sorts of pitches. I picked up the knuckler and it was almost impossible to catch. The Whiffle ball did what a baseball would do but much more intensive. I found a rising fastball, a ‘drop ball’, curves and other weird applications. Later in Babe Ruth League I was a sometimes pitcher with a fastball that wasn’t fast and a change up that was not much slower than my fastball. One day I decided to throw a knuckler and the manager came out to yell at me. So that was the only one I threw. (We were not allowed anything but fastballs and change ups.)

and he did all this while missing the most important tendon in his arm.

Great stuff! Thanks for putting this together!

Never thought I’d come across physics topics I’ve learned in school this year, but here we are

Great Video. Some years ago, I use to follow Russ Springer of the CA Angels throw the knuckleball. He said he was failing his mechanics and ask Phil Niekro and Charlie Hough what he was doing wrong. They told him to throw slower. 65 and slower. As he did, his knuckler became better.

Never pitched but i did play Volleyball and was a jump float specialist at the serve line. That's our knuckleball. (Im early in the vid sorry if he mentions that later) My whole schtick was making the ball drop/stop. I didn't really know what i was doing at first but as i got better and got more control it got really deadly. I assume (based on the sports mentioned) it has to do with speed and distance. In tennis, basketball, etc. Its either very hard to move the ball without spin (like in tennis), or the ball rarely moves far enough for the effect to kick in. The float serve is still fast albeit no where near as fast as top spin jumpers. Knuckleballs still can hit 70+ mph. Idk cricket or soccer info but i can presume its the same.

The reason R.A.Dickey's knuckleball was so effective is the very same reason he walked so few batters during his fifteen year career. Dickey's knuckleball was thrown right at the top of the optimal spectrum (67-78MPH) averaging 79 MPH. It's crazy to think a baseball moving sixteen MPH slower than a 95 MPH fastball with no spin, could be so damn effective. Physics is truly astounding.

It's pronounced Charlie Huff.

Explaining the physics of the knuckleball is like trying to nail jello to the wall.

It actually did make my day to learn about Pambo se asa. That's a really pretty name, great descriptor too. Thanks!

Thank you for that Indep look at the physics of the knuckle ball. Very interesting. Nice work

I thought this was going to explain the knuckleball not give me a math lesson

Wilbur Wood, knuckleduster, won 20 games four years in a row from 1971-1974 starting 184 games in those four years. ERA's of 1.91, 2.51, 3.46 & 3.60 during that stretch. Arguably the greatest stretch of knuckleballing in MLB history.

You guys make amazing videos. Definitely deserve more subscribers. Thank you for your great content!

Found it really helpful in my daughters physics class. Thanks a lot for putting this together.

Thanks for making this video!

I've seen many knuckleball pitchers play through the years from Phil Niekro to former Red Sox pitcher Steven Wright. It's always been fascinating how well those pitchers have been able to throw that pitch effectively for the most part, how few pitchers today are able to throw it.

I subbed right after your 5 wonders of baseball. Nice work

A fantastic video with clear explanations that was super great!

Thank you for this 🙏

great vid. Charlie Hough is pronounced “huff” not “hugh” but a 99% is a good score. thanks for the great vids, ton of work you put in.

One of the key factors HAS to be that it's played outdoors. Minor changes in wind must facilitate more extreme and chaotic movement. In volleyball you get massive knuckling but that's because the ball is often hit with little to no spin, I would guess that outdoor volleyball has even more severe chaotic motion.

It should be pointed out that when Dickey won the CYA, he was 38 years old. The d’Arnaud/Syndergaard trade was a no-brainer at the time for both teams. The Mets, as you point out, were “rebuilding” and the Blue Jays were in a “win now” situation. As a fellow Mets fan, I was all for it.

Love the Brazilian reference. My favorite Portuguese word is beija-flor. It is the word for hummingbird, but directly translates to flower kisser.

Can’t be a baseball video without some shade thrown at the Astros Loved the vid man, I actually used to throw the knuckleball throughout highschool, it was my favorite pitch, I used it almost exclusively

7:05 You kept saying 'vortex shredding' when you even showed the name in print as 'vortex shedding'. This phenomenon is the detachment of airflow from a non-streamlined surface. Otherwise, great video!

This is exactly what I needed for quarantine. Physics and baseball in one? Perfect.

This is very very well done

I had a friend in a slow pitch softball league that had a knuckle ball. It would always look like it was going to go long but then just dropped from the sky and hit the strike zone. He could strike out batters with it, and in slow pitch softball that is pretty amazing.

as a soccer player absolutely obsessed with the knuckleball, its cool to see it in other sports. mad props to anyone who can master it in any sport. it is an elusive creature but so gratifying when executed correctly great video. thanks

The knuckling effect for baseballs and cricket balls is due to the seams. With volleyballs and soccer balls it is due mostly due to the compressive force of the strike not only deforming the ball but also the collision of the air inside the bladder rebounding against the inside walls of the ball...coupled with the seams on the outside. Any rotation of the ball evens these out so when the ball is struck hard without much rotation the effect is much more pronounced. If you kick an american football without much rotation you will also see this dual effect which causes it to knuckle, causing missed field goals and dropped punts.

Real Radio Reingold: Jim was a pitcher for his high school team in Palatka so he knows all about this stuff.

Thanks for that excellent video lesson. Earned a sub.

Good video with all the all the technical information for support - interesting. The only thing I was thinking about was all the knuckle ball pitchers I have seen over the years. I signed up for Little League in 1956 and was a big baseball fan ever since- baseball was the only youth sport league in those days.

I'm an Aussie new to baseball. This was a very good video. Well done.

Never batted against a knuckleballer but I was a catcher for one in high school and man was it a sight to see. Almost every pitch would just blow your mind.

Excellent presentation! I loved the math and science! I don't even like baseball, but the oddities of the sport are quite fascinating! Thanks!

Dickeys warm up music with the Jay's was the theme to game of thrones.

Ra’s life and journey is amazing

who’s hype for the mlb season to start

Just to add something to the fun fact about "pombo sem asa", actually a "pombo sem asa" is a very strong kick that seems like it's going up and straight, no curves, no zigzags, and with a rising trajectory, it hits the upper part of the net. The football kick knuckleball here it's actually called "folha seca" (translated as dry leaf... dont ask me why haha), when the ball has no rotation and does this zigzag movement.

Phil Niekro didn't understand all this science, I'm sure, but he did say that the best knuckleball rotates 1-2 times on the way to the plate. Knowing now that the rotation exposes different faces to the drag force and the different faces will affect the drag differently and then move the ball differently, sure is nice.

Love the video. Wish you the best buddy

Every other pitch has a spin rate, which could act as a gyroscope, helping the ball to retain it's tracking and stability as it flies through the air. Mr. Knuckler has no gyro action and cuts through the air at it's own whims.

Dickey threw his knuckle considerably faster than most knuckleball pitchers do. If memory serves it was thrown about 85mph. So, that is more lift force on the ball which is going to create greater than the usual 6cm of movement. In part this explains why it was so much harder to hit than most knuckleballs but also makes it that much more impressive, or perhaps lucky, that he was generally able to control it in the strike zone for a full season.

I had high ceilings in my living room as a kid, no friends, no dad, home alone.. playing catch with myself, throwing knuckle balls only.

Damn suttle shade thrown. I love it

As a lover of baseball and the Brazilian culture, I appreciate the Portuguese lesson! awesome vid

Excellent video. I love knuckleballers! (Willie Hernandez, Detroit Tigers 1984)

The knuckle ball is hypnotic looking at it while your batting. For example.... its coming at you and in your head you say that's a knuckle ball lol and then you strike out!!

The comment, we have never seen 90 mph knuckleballs. I've seen 95 mph repeatable knuckleballs back in 1999. In fact, I've seen 105 mph knuckleballs. The pitching machine we were working on threw them. I remember everybody who worked on the project were in awe of the curve on the ball but I kept saying, the ball isn't spinning. I proved that, that the ball wasn't spinning, and was in total awe that the pitch was 100% repeated. I could hammer nails with knuckleballs, if I put the ball in the machine exactly the same way.

Loved the trash can reference 7:39

Great video m8. Only thing you got wrong is that the brazilian expression is "pombo SEM asa" (dove without wings) rather than "pombo se asa" (dove if wing). Minor detail tho, keep up the good job. Cheers from Brazil

Vortex *Shedding* - but yeah. I used to use a knuckleball serve when I played volleyball. Just gently strike the ball with the heel of your hand. No throwing the ball up to the rafters and leaping across the court and all the histrionics. Just “Tap” - and watch the opponents as they whiff my serve over and over. Good times

If you watch a knuckleball in detail, you’ll notice that for most of its flight it is spiraling. Not spinning, spiraling. It is most clear with the one thrown by Dickey where all three, better catcher and umpire, panic even as it glides into the strike zone for a called strike. But it exists in the initial flight of all of them. The real question is at what point does the ball go “off the rail”, as it were. That point is unpredictable, and that’s what makes it such a great pitch.

I remember going to Citi Field to see Dickey pitch against the Phillies in 2011. This was after years of being tortured by the late 2000s Mets, so it was nice to finally enjoy baseball again.

thanks for reminding me of the nightmare of college math shit. great video

One thing I learned from watching RA Dickey is that the knuckleball giveth and taketh. When it is on, it is on but when it isn't, get the bullpen ready.

Having played for a long time, every baseball player tries to throw a knuckleball. It is an amazingly difficult thing to do with the margin between a good knuckleball and a slow spinning change up being exceptionally slim. What makes RA Dickey a knuckle ball pitcher is his consistency with the pitch; his margin of error is so delicate that he has missed games due to a cracked/chipped nail as it prevents him from properly gripping the ball. A knuckleball has 2 reasons for being successful: 1) it has turbulent air flow around the ball causing its flight path to uncharacteristic; knuckleballs go all over the place. 2) and this is related to 1, you can't predict it as a hitter; hitting a baseball is the smallest of margins. The difference between a homerun and a fly-out is .5 inch. A lot of hitting is timing and anticipation; you can't anticipate a knuckleball as its flight path is inconsistent. Sometimes it sinks more, other times it moves more left; a knuckleball is the snowflake of baseball pitches. When you boil it down, a perfectly thrown fastball or curveball may be difficult to hit, but the hitter always has a chance as there a prototypical movement. Knuckleballs don't work thtat way.

@ 7:45 BURN!!!! Well played good sir!

Works for a football too. Throw it like a softball pitch with no spin it's crazy how it moves.

well done. Did you also do anything on how they hold the ball and release it? Or aim? Or whether they can throw it sidearm or only overhead? Thanks, good job.

Bro he was so much fun to watch when he was with the Mets, I’m a Mets fan so of course I loved R.A. Dickey

Being a left-handed pitcher with the knuckleball coaches love me

Tim Wakefeild. The best knu kleballs in history.

He and Tim Wakefield. The best two knucklers in recent memory. And Hoyt Wilhelm of the White Sox many years ago. And the Niekro Bros, my Ohio boys! Do dig the video of Charlie Hough @ 4:52 He was the Bartolo of the early 90's.

Dickey’s story is wild. Came into the league and his signing bonus was basically shredded to 10% of its original offer because they learned he had no UCL. No, he didn’t tear it. He was literally BORN WITHOUT ONE.

0:48 had me wiping my screen

I will never understand people who downvote videos like this. I mean... if it's not for you, just move on. Seriously... the research, the writing, the editing... how about a slow clap people. Bravo Matt. Bravo.

Thanks for this

Quite frankly, the answer why a volleyball (serve) and a soccer "float" is because there is air in the ball. As soon as you hit or kick the ball, the shape of the ball changes. This makes the air floating around the ball, different every inch it travels. A volleyball can move side to side 3 feet and if you hit the ball perfectly, it moves up and down too, but not that much. In soccer, well, just look up a free kick by Roberto Carlos from Brazil against France. That ball moved close to 10 feet to the left. He actually aims 10 feet outside the post of the goal.

Love this vid

"How cool is the term Vortex Shredding?" Uhh it said vortex shedding but hey yk small details

This was very awesome. I swear, if science was explained more through sports, rather than abstract examples, a lot more people would understand it. Great job.

This helped me with my science fair thx!

I played ball from little league to the pacific league and only faced only one real knuckleball pitcher. And he walked me and the three guys behind me and was benched by the end of the third inning. One thing that’s not touched on, when knuckleball throwers are having a bad day, it’s typically a colossal bad day. But it’s easy to why the pitch is so hard to hit, you just simply don’t see it often enough and it’s a pitch that most batting practice pitchers can’t replicate.