Senators Knuckleball Pitchers in the '20's/'30's!

[DODGER DEB]

During the METS game a few days ago, a discussion came up about knuckleball pitchers, and how difficult it can be to have one on your pitching staff.

It was disclosed that during the 1920's/1930's the Washington Senators had four/five knuckleballers on their staff at one time.

Can anyone shed some light on this? If true, can you name them?

c.

[WJackman]

It was the 1944-45 staff that had four starters who relied primarliy on the knuckleball. There were Dutch Leonard, Johnny Niggeling, Roger Wolff and Mickey Haefner. Catcher Rick Ferrell appeared behind the plate in 179 games over those two years and handled a knuckleball pitcher in 146 of them.

There is a chapter titled "The Knuckleball Catcher" in the biography of Rick and Wes Ferrell. It is called "The Ferrell Brothers of Baseball" and is published by McFarland. You can find it on Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

[JohnGelnarFan]

Good research. The wars years when every team was like an Expansion team!

[DODGER DEB]

It was the 1944-45 staff that had four starters who relied primarliy on the knuckleball. There were Dutch Leonard, Johnny Niggeling, Roger Wolff and Mickey Haefner. Catcher Rick Ferrell appeared behind the plate in 179 games over those two years and handled a knuckleball pitcher in 146 of them.

There is a chapter titled "The Knuckleball Catcher" in the biography of Rick and Wes Ferrell. It is called "The Ferrell Brothers of Baseball" and is published by McFarland. You can find it on Amazon or Barnes and Noble.


Thanks for the info, WJackman! I will look into the book you mention.

c.