Quote:
Originally Posted by cgjackson222
Behind "Knucksie" and Wilhelm, I might go with Eddie “Knuckles” Cicotte, who is considered the first to master the pitch.
Cicotte had some of the best years of any pitcher of his era in 1913, 1917, and 1919 when he was a combined 75 wins vs. 30 losses during those years and an ERA well below 2.00 each of those seasons.
Cocotte went 21-10 in 1920 before he was banned from baseball as part of his being a major part of the Black Sox scandal. Had he continued playing a few more years (and avoided scandal), he may very well have become HOF worthy.
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I agree! Absolutely HOF worthy without the Black Sox scandal.
While the origins of the knuckleball are uncertain, Eddie Cicotte was probably the first pitcher to use it on a regular basis. And Cicotte had some outstanding years with the Chicago White Sox. In 1913 he was 18-11 with an ERA of 1.58 pitching 268 innings while completing 18 of the 30 games he started. In 1917 he was 28-12 with an ERA of 1.53 pitching 346 2/3 innings while completing 29 of the 35 games he started. And in 1919 at the age of 35 (at season's end) he was 29-7 with an ERA of 1.82 pitching 306 2/3 innings while completing 30 of the 35 games he started. Evidently White Sox owner Charles Comiskey ordered manager Kid Gleason to bench Cicotte for the last five games because Cicotte would under his contract have earned a $10,000 bonus had he reached the 30 victory mark!
But Cicotte was forced to retire late in the 1920 season after being banned for life by Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis for being one of the players implicated in the Chicago Black Sox World Series scandal of 1919.
The infamous scandal has acted to almost completely overshadow Cicotte's pitching achievements.
