The Knuckler
Prospect 
Posts 20
Registered 8-15-2002 Member Is Offline Mood:
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| posted on 10-7-2002 at 10:14 PM |
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Knuckle curve?
In watching the playoffs, it was the first time I really got to see Mussina'ss knuckle curve. Could anyone explain to me in simple terms how I would
go about in throwing one? And what the concept is (ie. no spin, forward spin, etc.)
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Toshknuckle
Journeyman
Posts 31
Registered 9-28-2002 Location Sydney, Australia Member Is Offline Mood:
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| posted on 10-8-2002 at 03:56 AM |
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k-curve
The k-curve is gripped like the k-ball except that at release you flick the fingers out as hard as you can. The harder the flick the bigger the break.
The result is a lot of top spin resulting in it breaking downwards with 12 to 6 movement.
Hitters usually rely of the fact that the curve can be spotted by the fact the wrist looks 'thin' (as a result of it being side on at release) but
not so with the k-curve. I personally find it much easy to control than the conventional curve.
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UNCTarheels0324@aol.com
Prospect
Posts 10
Registered 5-31-2003 Member Is Offline Mood:
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 posted on 7-11-2003 at 08:59 PM |
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knuckle curve
Im a 12 year old pitcher who is tryin to learn how to throw a knuckle curve but i am wonderin wat is the best grip to throwin one???Text
Red
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KnBllddo
Veteran
Posts 65
Registered 6-24-2003 Member Is Offline Mood:
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 posted on 7-11-2003 at 09:07 PM |
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Grip!
I'm not sure if this is the absolute best way to throw one but this is how I throw it and a couple of other people throw it. Hold the ball like your
getting ready to throw a two seam fastball first. Then once you do that curl your index finger and put it in between the two laces and take your
middle finger and lay it on the seam next to your index finger.Throw it like your going to throw a fastball. Try it and tell me what you found.
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knucklemaster333
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| posted on 7-11-2003 at 09:48 PM |
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knuckle curve
i heard you put your index finger and put it next to the close seam and put your middle finger on the wide part of the seams and then you snap down
like a curveball personally i get a steeper break with a k curve thwn a regular one but it's harder to throw with the same velocity
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kballer15
Prospect
Posts 23
Registered 8-20-2002 Location Springfield Mass Member Is Offline Mood:
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| posted on 7-11-2003 at 10:37 PM |
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What I do is
Hold my knuckleball and snap like a curveball, it works pretty well, it will hang sometimes though, but just out of inexperience.
-Angelo from Springfield
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KnucklerHQ-Dave
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| posted on 7-12-2003 at 01:38 AM |
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K-curve
I think you can see that there are some minor variations, so you can conclude that whatever you find works for you is what you should stick with...
EXCEPT since you're twelve, I would NOT suggest you try any kind of "curveball snap" unless you have a very good pitching coach at your side making
sure you aren't doing anything mechanically to hurt yourself.
It seems that pitchers your age can get a solid enough curve out of some variation of a knuckle-curve grip provided they throw it EXACTLY like their
fastball. I've even heard you can get good action by holding the ball like a four-seam orientation, only you lay your middle finger along the curving
"horseshoe".
Try a few pitches with one grip, then try something else. At your age, just a little movement should be more than enough, and you'll keep the ball
catchable (a problem at that age and maybe a little older).
"Hanging one" just means you got it up in the zone... which may not be a problem at all at your age, but it will become one as you get older.
--Dave C.
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themess
Veteran 
Posts 53
Registered 7-30-2002 Location New York Member Is Offline Mood: Happy
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| posted on 7-12-2003 at 01:58 AM |
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This is a picture of a k curve grip
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mark in nashville
Knuckleball Elite 
Posts 305
Registered 7-28-2002 Location Nashville, TN Member Is Offline Mood: Licenseto Pitch
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| posted on 7-12-2003 at 03:38 AM |
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k-curve
what i do is take a wakefield k-ball grip and turn it 90 degrees (dang there is no degrees symbol onthe keyboard >:~<) so that it is a 4 seam grip but
with the knuckles curled then i wedge the ball into my hand so that my fingers are extremely curled then i put my thumb and ring finger as far away
from your finger tips as possible on the polar opposite side of the ball. Then when throwing just give it a hard flick of the fingers as to give it a
good top spin. it will break slow but if the spin is slow enough it will not only have a curve-ball break but it will dance back and forth also. I
think Mussina might throw this pitch but with much more rpm's. well good luck.
p.s. if you're confused by my description i plan to submit a picture of the grip at a later date
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mark in nashville
Knuckleball Elite
Posts 305
Registered 7-28-2002 Location Nashville, TN Member Is Offline Mood: Licenseto Pitch
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| posted on 7-12-2003 at 03:42 AM |
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i forgot , this pitch puts no strain on the elbow like a regular curve does b/c it is thrwn straight with no elbow twist
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UNCTarheels0324@aol.com
Prospect
Posts 10
Registered 5-31-2003 Member Is Offline Mood:
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| posted on 7-15-2003 at 03:19 PM |
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ok thank you guys for all your suggestions.
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DeadBoy
Rookie
Posts 2
Registered 8-1-2003 Member Is Offline Mood:
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| posted on 8-6-2003 at 03:46 AM |
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The Knucklecurve
Ok I'm trying to throw a knuckle curve but have trouble being consistant with it and I'm really not at all certain on how it's supposed to be
thrown. Can anyone out there describe exactly how to do it? Spin? No spin? More like a curve or knuckler?
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coopy208
Knuckleball Elite
Posts 264
Registered 7-25-2002 Location Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH Member Is Offline Mood:
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| posted on 8-6-2003 at 04:02 AM |
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this pitch
i think there are a million takes on what this pitch really is. mike mussina throws one i think is more like a curve, and only called knuckle curve
because of the curled finger, not much relation to kball
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KnBllddo
Veteran
Posts 65
Registered 6-24-2003 Member Is Offline Mood:
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| posted on 8-6-2003 at 04:45 PM |
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Knucklecurve
Trust me on this one. It is defintaly more like a curve. It is supposed to spin a lot. And it curves just like the curveball. A knucklecurve is better
to throw than a curveball because it's easier on your arm. You throw it just like a fastball. For the grip, find the part where the seams come
closest together. Curl you index finger up and put it in the middle of the two seams and put your middle finger along the outside seam or the seam
right next to your index finger. Then you are on your way. Good luck!
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knucklemaster333
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| posted on 8-6-2003 at 05:08 PM |
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K-curve
knbllddo is right it is more like a curveball and it spins alot i like throwing k-curves since they are real easy on your arm at least better than a
real curve is
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Chenguo4
Journeyman
Posts 43
Registered 8-9-2003 Member Is Offline Mood:
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| posted on 10-25-2003 at 04:59 PM |
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A lil knuckle-curve help
I'm not a flame thrower at all (fastball maxes out at - gulp - 60is... but I'm working hard on my mechanics), so I rely on movement.
I've recently started working on a knuckle-curve, and I was wondering, how does a knuckle-curve compare with a regular curveball, i.e. speed,
movement, amount of break, etc?
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KnucklerHQ-Dave
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| posted on 10-25-2003 at 10:18 PM |
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K-curve
That's almost unanswerable, because there is a difference in arm angle alone, never mind how much spin or angle of spin is put on the ball.
Throw it like a straight four-seamer and it'll do one thing; pronate your hand or drop it a little to the side like you're starting to do
a karate shop and it'll do something else. Throw it like a two-seamer and you have something else.
I hate to make it sound like I'm not trying to help, but, really, you have to hit the mound and see what it does for you.
--Dave C.
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Taylor
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| posted on 10-26-2003 at 01:37 AM |
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besides my splitter....the knuckle-curve may know be one of my best pitches...
i throw the two-seam way, i dig my index fingernail in between the right seam, and my middle finger i lay slightly to the right or left of the
seams..just depending on my mood basically, cause i dont think theres really a difference ...
but for some reason my knuckle curve has a TON more rotation and spin, which in turn is more break then my normal curving curveball (i have two..the
other start's behind the batters head and breaks down the middle of the plate)....but the knuckle-curve it's nearly unhittable either way
you throw it (meaning in or out)...mine falls off the table and curves....in the league i'm throwing in now, i usually start it in at the batter
and they're scared of getting hit but it breaks over the plate....when i was in the adult league, i would use it as a out pitch if i was ahead
in the count and throw it away...but i'd jam them up and in w/ a pitch or two first....
you have to know your batters to throw it with it's full effectiveness...also..
in actually throwing the ball, don't throw it exactly like a curveball, throw like a normal fastball but twist your wrist like turning a key in
the ignition of a car, but quicker, and i always pull my wrist quickly in towards my body to get that additional spin
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Taylor
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| posted on 10-26-2003 at 01:38 AM |
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also, some people mistakenly think the knuckle curve should have no spin like a curveball, that's wrong...
actually i dont know if that's wrong, but what i call my knuckle-curve, it spins more then anything and it works good for me, so that's
what i'm basing that statement on...experience over research *shrugs*
whatever works best for you right?
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mcretro4
Veteran 
Posts 51
Registered 3-22-2003 Member Is Offline Mood: more or less
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| posted on 10-26-2003 at 02:40 AM |
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videos
watch some videos of mussinas knuckel-curve you might find out what your looking for
Mike C.
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spretro4
Veteran 
Posts 74
Registered 3-22-2003 Location east coast Member Is Offline Mood: conspicuous
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| posted on 10-26-2003 at 03:11 AM |
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k curve...
when i throw my knuckle curve i roll up both my index and my middle finger, my ring and pinky fingers are wrapped around the side. i come over the
top and flick my fingers prior to release. i find i get more forward spin on the ball with this grip than i do with only my index rolled up. its
nasty.
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KnucklerHQ-Dave
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| posted on 10-26-2003 at 12:34 PM |
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K-curve?
spretro4, a knuckle-curve basically allows the middle finger to put a lot of pressure and a lot of off-center-spin on the ball so it's a form of
curveball... at least, that's how it started out. If you're putting topspin on, what you have is a sinker of sorts, and it should be
nasty. You're just making up for the fact that you can't throw a spitter, which has the same action. Why don't you give it a name,
and maybe you'll have the world throwing them? A few of us have thrown these, but it sounds like you have seriously developed it into a killer
pitch.
--Dave C.
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spretro4
Veteran
Posts 74
Registered 3-22-2003 Location east coast Member Is Offline Mood: conspicuous
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| posted on 10-26-2003 at 10:31 PM |
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this pitch is really nasty. its my second favorite pitch next to my knuckleball. im not going to take credit for inventing this pitch because the
baseball coach/ physics teacher at my school invented the grip. i just made it nasty. ill talk to him and ill get back to you with a name for this
killer pitch. 
[Edited on 10-26-2003 by spretro4]
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abulafia79
Journeyman
Posts 38
Registered 3-6-2003 Location victorville ca. Member Is Offline Mood: euphoric
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 posted on 10-28-2003 at 02:47 AM |
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k-curve
a k-curve is basically a different way of throwing a curveball. i can throw an overhand curveball, i have been told that it looks like a really slow
Mussina k-curve. in reality it is a slow hanging overhand curveball. and it gets smashed sometimes.
me gusta tirar la Knuckleball mucho.
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abulafia79
Journeyman
Posts 38
Registered 3-6-2003 Location victorville ca. Member Is Offline Mood: euphoric
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 posted on 10-28-2003 at 02:59 AM |
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topspin on k-curve
i have been trying to learn a k-curve, i cannot throw it like Mussina's because i cannot relly on one finger for topspin. i use the index and
middle fingers to put topspin on the ball. however i don't think i am doing enough since it doesn't look like it breaks much. help!? any
tips?
my overhand curveball seems good, but it's too slow to even use. i am not much of a flamethrower.
or maybe you can help me and just tell me how to throw harder.
me gusta tirar la Knuckleball mucho.
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