[Ads-l] Antedating of "Knuckleball"

[Shapiro, Fred]

knuckleball (OED 1927)

“Witt, the wonderful tonsorial artist and even more wonderful pitcher of the ‘knuckle ball,’ an innovation in the delivery line entirely of his own, will daze and dazzle the Globes the first half of today’s game ….” The Cairo Bulletin, April 30, 1905, p7
“Moren, a young pitcher with Phaildelphia, has invented a drop curve called the knuckle ball and makes it work very prettily.” The Racine Daily Journal, April 30, 1907, p7
NOTE: This antedating was discovered by Ken Liss.

Fred Shapiro



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