Knuckleball wiggle
The look on the batter's face.
@ardgedee But can you blame him?
Also look how the catcher corkscrews his mitt following this thing, and does not appear confident that he'll catch it even as he just does so.
@LordJohnWhorfin as you probably know, knuckleballers often have "their own" catcher because catching them is so difficult. I remember the Red Sox resigning weak-hitting Doug Mirabelli solely so he could catch Tim Wakefield's starts.
how is this even possible
@Synesthesia A rotating ball stabilizes and moves predictably depending on the axis the seams are rotating on. Without rotation the ball behaves erratically depending on where the are sitting.
I did not know that. Are baseballs that light?
@Synesthesia The physics baffle me. It doesn't seem like it should do what it does, and even pitchers that throw the knuckleball don't really understand the why. There's a nice little article about it here http://www.exploratorium.edu/baseball... that says The ideal knuckleball rotates about a quarter of a revolution on its way to the plate. Without the stabilizing gyroscopic effect of spinning, the ball becomes aerodynamically unstable, and the raised seams create an uneven flow of air over the surface of the ball, pushing it one way or another.
Conversations like these are why I love MLKSHK. Thanks to all you baseball and physics nerds.