Deadspin
We've always thought if there were a mainstream sports breakthrough for a woman, a sport in which a woman could compete on the same field as men, it would be as a knuckleball pitcher in Major League Baseball. It doesn't require strength, and you need to be smart. And not just women can do it: Old men could too.
As a half-promotional, half-oh-what-the-hell gimmick, the St. Paul Saints have invited to camp a 53-year-old knuckleball pitcher named Jon Secrist.
"I really feel good, and I'll give it my best," Secrist said before it was eventually announced the weather was forcing the Saints to push the tryout until 9 a.m. today. "I'll be ecstatic if I make it. At my age, it's a one-in-a-million chance just to try out and a one-in-a-billion chance to make the club."
He'd received a sniff here and there from a scout or two, but never the call he's been waiting for. Until Saints part-owner Mike Veeck, who has contacts in Los Angeles, rang in December.
We don't understand why, if someone has perfected the knuckleball — and it's hardly clear that Secrist has — they couldn't pitch until they were 90. The knuckleball is the one thing in sports that can beat age, gender, all of it. Why isn't everyone trying to throw one?
Even At 53, Pitcher Ready To Give It A Go With Saints [Minneapolis Star-Tribune]
Comments
Anybody can pitch the knuckleball until they're 90. Anybody can watch four knuckleballs roll across the plate until they're 90, too.
Wakefield just plain ole looks like a big fag on the mound.
That's all and well and good but I think it's ridiculous that he has to say "Secrist out" after ever friggin' strike three.
Greg Oden wasn't able to hit this guy's knuckleball in Little League.
The Veeck family is just fantastic.
Those Veecks are just crazy!
@Weed Against Speed: I'll give you a +... you'll find out RIGHT after this commercial break.
I'll put my gyroball up against anyone's knuckleball. Bring it.
I believe it was Bob Uecker who said it best...
The best way to catch a knuckleball is to wait 'till it stops rolling and pick it up .
@kayceebk: @HebrewHammer:
I demand you two reach a consensus!
I bet Josh Bard couldn't catch this guy either.
Chad Pennington is intrigued by this.
Everythings coming up Mirabelli!
Dammit, I thought this was gonna be about Knuckleballed starring Tim Snakefield.
Wasn't this guy on Mr. Burns original roster for the Nuclear plant softball team? He was right after Honus Wagner in the batting order.
Elaine: Oh, no. No, David. No, please. Not the knuckle....
2 Seinfeld opportunities in 1 day!
"Why isn't everyone trying to throw one?"
HGH? Stair-oids? A-Rod?
@Brazil Thrill - Hawks Aficionado: Don't you mean your "Ultimate Galactic Dragon Gyroball Pitch Power Explosion"?
[www.theonion.com]
The Ultimate Galactic Dragon Gyroball Pitch Power Explosion breaks three feet inside before cutting sharply toward the dugout, where falsehood and cowardice are forced to shrink before it!
I'm imagining a 90 year old knuckleballer would have a less than stellar reaction to a line drive through the box.
/rooting for this geezer, though
He'd received a sniff here and there from a scout or two...
So he's been to a Lemon Party?
Downside: throwing the knuckler will ruin your Lee Press-On Nails.
Steve Sparks approves.
Hey I'm good at Calvinball, that should mean something...
Biff Tannen will be pitching for the Trenton Thunder next year.
The first time you float one to a second-team all county third baseman in a high school game and end up needing a testicle removed due to the resultant line drive, you would probably end your precious little knuckle ball experiment. *
*Did not actually happen to me. Honest Injun.
@Matt_T: DOUGIE'S GOING DEEP TONIGHT!
Fortunately for Secrist, he had been awake for 5 hours when the tryout began.
E:60 has discovered that Secrist is really 55.
@Weed Against Speed: Will said sniff, not stiff.
@suntastic: Battle on, Daisuke! Wither their spirits with your mystical Four Winds Split-Finger Shottu-jitsu!
@sassydeerrun:Can't use the same rules twice.
+1 to you sir.
If Barry Zito draws $10+ million a year, this guy should be able to get a roster spot in rookie ball.
53 still leaves him at 8 years younger than Wakefield
I think if someone mastered the knucklepuck he could play hockey until they were 90.
Charlie Hough retired when he was 46- because he's knees were shot.
Which makes me think that a knuckler could pitch forever if he was allowed to sit on a stool and pitch.
Does anyone know what this guy's AARP is at?
@MitchKayak:
10:30 - gives Crisp a deadleg and calls him a homo
Jamie Moyer would like to have a word with Secrist but it'll have to wait until after Mannix.
@MitchKayak: [insert chicken parm reference here]
@Brazil Thrill - Hawks Aficionado: But only in the privacy of your own home I hope.
@thefuseproject: What kind of "stool" are we talking about here?
/Gimme a break; I'm already drunk.
Just watch. The day he gets called up to The Show, his Army Reserve Unit will get the call to Basra.
[images1.wikia.nocookie.net]
The knuckleball, I can see women mastering and being equal with men in talent. But, the knuckle-shuffle is a different story...women can be good at it but they will never be as proficient at it as men.
I actually floated the idea of teaching myself to be a knuckleballer this summer in multiple drunken DUAN threads.
And I brought it up again at a bar Tuesday night.
*sigh*
@Weed Against Speed: Ugh, I regret googling that at work.
@Sherrill-Theory: +1
@NovakAintNoJokovic: Do you still have a job?
@ArkansasFred: Well, uh, I suppose I could name it the, uh, Matlock Expressway.
I could have sworn Robert Redford was older than 53. The Natural returns!
/look at the picture
The Saints tried to have have Doug Mirabelli flown in with a police escort.
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