The Knucklebook: Everything You Need to Know About Baseball's Strangest Pitch―the Knuckleball

by Dave Clark

This little book will teach you all you need to know about the most frustrating yet entertaining pitch in the knuckleball. Dave Clark's book explains the strange workings of the pitch and how it's used. Everything Mr. Clark demonstrates in The Knucklebook is carefully illustrated with line drawings.

Genres: Baseball, Sports

128 pages, Hardcover

First published November 30, 2005

Reviews

[D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dave Clark’s The Knucklebook was listed in the bibliography of the Tim Wakefield bio Knuckler and I knew immediately that I had to read it.

It’s a marvelous little book, providing a brief, but insightful look at baseball’s oddest pitch from a variety of perspectives: how to throw it, how to hit it, how to catch it, how to call it, among others. Clark’s writing is lucid and accessible; Phil Clark’s line drawings are illuminating and useful; several great pitchers are typically enigmatic and epigrammatic. I learned a lot.

[Mark Desrosiers · Rating 2 out of 5]

No not the Knucklebook: it's just a knucklebook, focusing on technique and strategy, with lots of obvious advice for pitchers, umpires, catchers and batters. You'd think an enthusiast like Clark would dive and corkscrew and slowmo just like his favorite pitch, but nope: here you get the bland basics. I hope he (or someone) writes another book that includes more history, stats, and lore: even poor Wakefield and Niekro are rendered into namedropping and pithy quotes here.

[Dustin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am sickly obsessed with the knuckle ball, and knuckle ball pitchers, so this book was amazing to me. It also validates my obsession with the pitch by proving I'm not alone. I couldn't tell you how many hours I've wasted trying to throw this pitch with slightly unwilling friends and family. It's definitely a niche book, but!, if you happen to share the sickness, then you'll enjoy it as well.

[Michelle Tempted By Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy to read and follow. There was a lot of useful tidbits as well as graphics to help a novice understand the holds and throwing of a knuckleball. This book is exactly what it says, you won't get anything but knuckleball knowledge here. Recommend

[Matt Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have always had a strange fascination with the knuckleball.