Me, My Son, and the Knuckleball

Since I was a young teenager, I have been fascinated with the knuckleball. Just the name - knuckleball - is enigmatic. A fastball is fast. A curveball curves. A slider, yeah, sort of slides, although the sharp, late-breaking sliders thrown by pitchers today probably don't resemble the sliders from 30 or more years ago. But a knuckleball? What does it do? Does it "knuckle"?

I grew up in rural southern Kansas, in a farm town whose population was around 450. My graduating class size (class of '82) was 9. Yes, nine. I've joked many times that I had the honor of being 2nd in my class, yet not in the top 10%. In this small town, summer baseball was, to use a baseball analogy, hit or miss. Sometimes we had enough boys of the right age to field a team, and sometimes we didn't. I hit it just wrong every year - we never had enough boys to play. So, I have never played a single game of organized baseball. (Later, in late teens I played some fast-pitch softball, and then in college and afterward I played slow-pitch softball, but never baseball.) So, I had to satisfy my baseball desires in my backyard with a pitch-back.

Sometime around age 15, I found, in "The Book of Lists" (I think), a list of guidelines written by Hoyt Wilhelm on how to throw a knuckleball. This list, plus a picture of the grip in an encyclopedia we had at home (which I now know is incorrect), sent me to the backyard to try to throw it. Over many weeks and several summers, I learned to throw a decent knuckleball to my pitch-back in my backyard, taking the spin off, watching it float, and occasionally watching it dip and break. It was pretty cool. Too bad I had no one to pitch to :-)

Years passed, and I would throw knuckleballs around during softball warmups, playing catch at picnics, and, eventually, to my two sons as we would play catch in our yard. I've never had the arm strength to throw hard enough to make the knuckleball do much of anything - at most, it would just look strange coming in to whoever was catching it, floating in without any spin on the ball.

Moving ahead to the Spring of 2011, I was pitching coach for my 13 year old son's team. He had pitched for several years in kid-pitch baseball, and was still a pitcher for his team, but arm strength issues (thanks, DNA) led to ineffectiveness when he had to pitch fastball after fastball. I was teaching a couple other boys change-ups, and they were throwing them pretty effectively. Sometimes, when thrown well in the right spot, they were extremely effective. My son, however, couldn't get the hang of a change-up. I think hand size had an impact, as his hands weren't big enough to vary the change-up grip from the fastball. There was not really a noticiable difference in velocity when he tried to throw a change-up.

Then, one evening in the front yard, I showed him how to throw a knuckleball. I showed him a grip that worked for me, and he started throwing them. Amazingly enough, he could throw them with enough velocity to get them to the catcher, and he could get them over the plate for strikes most of the time. Taking the spin off was the challenge - sometimes they had too much spin for a good knuckler, sometimes they had no spin at all - a beautiful sight.

So, I thought - why not have him throw this as an off speed pitch? He can throw a knuckleball instead of a change-up. At minimum, it's a change in velocity from the fastball. Even better, when most of the spin is off, it looks funny to the 13 year old batters who have never seen a knuckler. At best, every now and then, he would throw a beaut - no spin, letting the weird laws of knuckleball physics take effect on the pitch.
So we went ahead with that as the plan - my son would still be primarily a fastball pitcher, but he would throw an occasional knuckleball as an off-speed. And so he did. He threw them pretty effectively. He threw some for surprise strikes, got a few strikeouts, and gave the batters something else to think about while at the plate. And, a few times, there was too much spin and they floated in high, and they were hit hard. Thus is the life of a pitcher.

We continued this strategy the next summer in 14-year old baseball. He threw mainly fastballs, but worked in a knuckleball from time to time. To me, as a coach, I'm glad that he was able to develop an effective off-speed ptich and become a better overall pitcher. As a Dad, I'm thrilled that he learned a difficult and frankly entertaining pitch. It was fun to watch. The best part, though, are the memories that my son has and will always have. For at least two summers, he was a knuckleball pitcher. Who knows that the next few years will bring as he enters high school and tries out for the team? Will the coaches even entertain the thought of a knuckleball pitcher? Even if they don't, he'll play summer ball, I'll coach him, and we'll keep throwing the old knuckler...

Next Post: The Best Knuckleball I Have Ever Seen

Hot Times in Kansas City

This summer is one for the ages in Kansas City.  We're now in our second wave of 100+ degree heat lasting over a week.  It's about 105 here today, so far.  May get up to 107 or so.  In a few days it gets cooler - down to a crisp 98.  This is the hottest summer ever in my 26 years in Kansas City.  The only summer I can remember that was this hot was 1980, when I spent several weeks working outside at my local high school in southern Kansas.  Hot, hot, hot.

I just got back in town from a week-long vacation in Tennessee, including 3 days in the Crossville area and 4 in Memphis.  And, when in Memphis, you go to Graceland.  Now, I knew that Elvis' "The Wonderful World of Christmas" had been re-released last year in an extended 2-disc set, and that it was only available directly from the Elvis enterprises on the web.  That appears to still be so - it's not available on Amazon.  The re-release contains the entire original record, plus many alternate takes and a recording of "The Lord's Prayer".  One the drive to Memphis, the thought hit that I could probably get this CD at Graceland.  And, sure enough, there it was.  It isn't cheap, but it cost no more than the web price.  So, of course, I bought it :-)  Elvis is an iconic Christmas voice, and I'm very pleased to add this to my collection.  A future blog post will have some thoughts about this record.

Speaking of future blog posts, I have several queued up in mind that are not Christmas related.  There are a few CDs from emerging, independent artists that I want to review on the blog, and I also have a couple of posts related to baseball, and possibly a few others before I get back into the Christmas blog season.  I hope you enjoy them.

I've also acquired a few more Christmas records to post here during the season, and it's about time to start ripping and scanning.

So, dear readers, be looking for a few posts here soon.  If you like the non-Christmas posts, leave a comment.  No politics, nothing controversial, just some musings on various topics.

Thanks for visiting Merry and Bright!  Come back soon!

Der Bingle Meets Ken Kessler

Last weekend, Mrs. Bingle and I went out to San Diego for a 4-day weekend, to enjoy the sand, surf, and seafood.  While we were there, we had the pleasure of meeting Ken and Lisa Kessler for breakfast at the Old Townhouse Restaurant in Ocean Beach.

I'm sure that all the readers of Merry and Bright know of Ken Kessler.  Ken is the Merry Mastermind behind Sounds of Christmas , the exquisite Christmas music internet radio station.  Ken also has released two superb Christmas compilations on the SOCMusic label, aptly named "The Sounds of Christmas" and "The Sounds of Christmas Volume 2".  Seriously folks, these are two of the best comps around. 

Ken and Lisa (who, by the way, performs "Christmas Vacation" on the first comp CD) joined us for breakfast and great conversation, until the waitress politely pointed out the line waiting to be seated :-)  Ken and I chatted about Christmas music (of course), and I gained some insight into how he gets the rights to the songs, some of the highs and lows of the business, and some of the great music out there that can't be released (yet).  Ken also related some great stories about the Huey Lewis and the News and Stephen Bishop tracks from SOC Vol. 1.  I really enjoyed the Christmas tunes talk.

I have to mention that Lisa, in addition to being a fine singer, is also an author.  An, officially, award-winning author.  Saturday night, after starting the day with us in Ocean Beach and then a trip to Redondo beach for a book signing, Lisa's "Night Walker" won an award at the San Diego Book Awards, as best Fantasy/Horror/SciFi book.  Check out Lisa's website, Lisa's Lair.

We had a really great time getting to know Ken and Lisa.  I can't wait to see what Ken will bring us this season on Sounds of Christmas.  If you have never listened to SOC during the holidays, make sure to tune in, er, click and connect, this year.  You'll hear the best variety of Christmas music, new and old, that you'll find anywhere on the airwaves or on the web.

Coming Soon to Merry and Bright!

Spring is here, which brings baseball, volleyball, and dance to the Der Bingle family, leaving little time for new posts here.  But, I have several things in the works, as soon as the schedule allows.  Working on more posts in the Cuneo Christmas book series.  I know photos of books aren't the most thrilling things you can find on the internet, but I hope you are enjoying them.  I acquired a couple more ('53 and '54) from eBay this week, so I'll work them in.

Christmas blog readers may remember Stubby's review of jazz singer Jillaine's Christmas CD release from 2011.  I've received this CD from Jillaine for review, as well as her two other albums.  I'll save my review of her Christmas CD for closer to the season, but I'll get reviews of the non-Christmas works written and posted  here in the next few weeks. 

I'm working on meeting up with one of the major players in Christmas music on the web here in a month or so.  Just a social meet and greet and chat about Christmas music :-)   If it happens, it'll be fully documented here.

I need to get out and visit some thrift stores to stock up for sharing season this year.  I have a few that didn't get shared last season, but I need to add some more to the library to have enough to keep the music flowing all through the season.

Any wish lists from readers?  Albums that I can keep an eye out for?  Others (Ernie, Captain OT) have had great success finding 45s of awesome Christmas songs.  I have not been able to find comparable treasures on 45.  In fact, I don't think I've seen any Christmas 45s yet.  Well, maybe a couple on the Peter Pan label, but they appeared to be in pretty bad shape.  The hit rate is so low in finding Christmas 45s that I shy away from them, not wanting to take a lot of time in a fruitless search.  Anyway - if there are special Christmas music wishes, post them in a comment and I'll see if they turn up.

That's all for now - back soon......

Cuneo Christmas 1949

To continue the series of posts about the Cuneo Christmas Books, here are some photos of the 1949 edition.  In 1949, John Cuneo chose to feature Christmas stories by Charles Dickens, including two stories of three chapters each.  And, continuing the annual tradition, Pope Pius XII's 1948 Christmas Broadcast brings another fine Cuneo Christmas book to an end.

Spine:

Title Page:

Table of Contents:

Illustration:

Pope Pius XII Christmas Broadcast (first page):



Kelley McRae Kickstarter project

Hello good readers.  Last summer I blogged about singer-songwriter Kelley McRae coming to my living room and giving my family and friends an amazing house show, as part of her VW Camper Van tour of the US. 

Kelley McRae Kickstarter

Kelley and husband/guitarist Matt completed the 2011 tour and settled for a time in Tennessee, where they worked on a new album (Kelley's third), chock full of songs inspired from their time on the road.  "A Kansas City Living Room and a Kitchen Full of Snacks", perhaps?  Oh, probably not...  :-)

To complete the project and get the CD manufactured, Kelley has a Kickstarter project set up.  Kickstarter is a terrific way for artists to connect with their fans, and allow their fans to be backers for their projects and provide the funds for the artists to complete their work.  I'm a big fan of the Kickstarter philosophy - it's a social network of fans who can fund the artists at any level they can afford.  The artists repay the fans with perk packages based on the amount contributed.  All the details are on the Kickstarter sites.  Kelley is the fourth project I've backed - two Christmas projects from Sam Billen, one by Jessica Frech, and now Kelley's new album.

I love Kelley's music.  She is a gifted songwriter and an amazing, talented singer.  She and Matt give us music from the heart - you can hear it in their performances.  I was a Day 1 backer on Kickstarter, and am anxiously awaiting the new album.

So - here's your chance to be a backer for Kelley.  Now through April 3, 2012, Kelley's Kickstarter project is accepting fund committments.  She has some fab stuff for everyone who contributes.   The link to her project follows (and is at the top of the post, too, for your convenience).  Please check out Kelley's music and go to Kickstarter and be a backer.  You'll feel like a record mogul, just a little bit  :-)

Kelley McRae Kickstarter

Kelley McRae's Website

Spring is Here

Spring doesn't officially arrive until March 20, but with highs in the 70s all week, and a chance for 80 tomorrow (3/13), I think Winter has pretty much gone away.  I believe our official snowfall total for the season was 3.4 inches.  We added a little bit last week at the airport, where they take the official measurements.  That day at my house, which is about 10 miles east of the airport, I awoke to about a half inch of sleet on the ground.

In the past we have had some doozy snowstorms in mid-March, but I don't see anything like that coming.  If that's the case, this will be the lowest snowfall total ever recorded in KC.  It almost seems like the big snow Winters the last two years sucked all of the Winter energy out and left this season just a little weakling....

Well, onward to Spring, and St. Patrick's Day this weekend.  Time to break out my Irish music :-)