Jun 2, 2021
In this episode, K.P. Wee looks at some knuckleballing feats and stories for the week of May 31 of past years. Included are Jeff Reardon’s first victory in 1993 after the former all-time saves king added a knuckler to his repertoire (May 31, 1993), the Niekro brothers’ record-setting 530th combined win in the big leagues (June 1, 1987), and R.A. Dickey’s shutout against St. Louis in 2012 (June 2, 2012), which began a dominant month of knuckleball pitching, one which saw him pitch back-to-back one-hitters with 10+ strikeouts that June.
Also mentioned are the outstanding gems of Joe Niekro (June 4, 1987), Tim Wakefield (June 4, 1995), and Eddie Fisher (June 4, 1965). (Note: In the podcast, the date of Wakefield’s 10-inning outing was erroneously stated as 1985; of course, it was actually 1995.)
Bonus: Not mentioned in the podcast, but also on June 4, 1953, Hoyt Wilhelm smacked his first career triple (in his 50th big-league at-bat) to break a 3-3 seventh-inning tie against Cincinnati. He got the pitching win in that game with three shutout innings in relief, when the New York Giants scored seven more runs in the eighth for an 11-3 victory. He would never hit another triple. Of course, Wilhelm had also homered in his first major-league at-bat a year earlier—and never hit another.
The music is by The Roger Chong Quartet, titled “Playing With the Duke,” which can be found in their 2016 album “Funkalicious.”