*1960 | NEW YORK, NEW YORK – It’s been said, ‘catching a knuckle-ball is like trying to catch a butterfly with a fly swatter.’ It’s one of the biggest challenges a catcher faces. The Baltimore Orioles tried to do something about it on this date in 1960.
One of their starters was premier knuckler Hoyt Wilhelm. Oriole catchers had an especially difficult time catching him. The Orioles set a record in 1959 for the most passed ball with 49, 38 while Wilhelm was on the mound.
On this date in 1960, Baltimore manager Paul Richards. had an idea. He came up with an oversized catcher’s mitt for catcher Clint Courtney.
It worked. Courtney had no passed balls on this date – there had been 11 in Wilhelm’s previous 28 innings – and Wilhelm pitched his first complete game of the season beating the New York Yankees 3-2.
The oversized mitt led to a rule change a few years later. Beginning with the 1965 season catcher’s mitts were limited to 38 inches in circumference and 15 ½ inches from top to bottom.
CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
The Official Rules of Baseball Illustrated, David Nemec, 2006
The knuckle-ball
