With the summer fading and fall colors beginning to appear, America's greatest pasttime gears up for the post-season as the baseball playoffs are just weeks away. And what better way to gear up for the road to the World Series than with a documentary centered on one of the most curious corners of the game: the knuckleball. From directors Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg ("The Devil Came on Horseback," "Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work") comes "Knuckleball," a documentary on the slowest, strangest and most unpredictable pitch in the game that only a select few are masters.
The doc follows two players — 37-year-old R.A. Dickey (New York Mets, now a 2012 All-Star) and 18-year veteran Tim Wakefield (now retired) — chronicling their ups and downs during the 2011 season. The film also catches up with five living retired knuckleballers: Hall of Famer Phil Niekro, Charlie Hough, Wilbur Wood, Jim Bouton and Tom Candiotti. All told, it's a compelling portrait of players whose unique pitch allowed them to make their mark. In this exclusive clip from the documentary, we see a handful of these players talk about how and why they first decided to throw a knuckleball, and for more than one, it was simply a way to stand out from a pack of guys all looking to get a coveted spot on the roster.
"Knuckleball" opens at the New York at the IFC Center on September 19th with filmmakers Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg and R.A. Dickey doing Q&As opening weekend, and the film will also be available via VOD as well (click here for more info). Watch below.
