MLB

Knucklers unite for Dickey

R.a. Dickey would really “knuck” the trend if he wins the National League Cy Young Award this season.

The Mets ace, who leads the National League with a 2.67 ERA, would become the first knuckleball pitcher to win the award, and two fellow knuckleballers are backing his campaign.

“He’s having the best season any knuckleball pitcher has ever had,” Hall of Famer Phil Niekro said. “Looking at his stats, his ERA and the strikeouts, walks, innings pitched, there’s no doubt statistic-wise that R.A. is the man.Cy Young, right now, he’s my vote.”

In addition to leading the National League in ERA, Dickey is second in strikeouts (205) and tied for second in wins (18). Dickey winning the award would go a long way toward helping to “legitimize” the pitch.

“I think he deserves to win the Cy Young, I think he has the numbers and the credentials to do it,” retired knuckleballer Tim Wakefield said. “If R.A. wins it this year, it’s really going to say something about our pitch.”

Like most knuckleballers, Dickey has been viewed as somewhat gimmicky, and is at times negatively compared to more conventional Cy Young candidates such as the Nationals’ Gio Gonzalez, the Reds’ Johnny Cueto and the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw.

“It’s been [overlooked] for a while,” Wakefield said. “It shouldn’t be viewed as a circus pitch, it’s a legitimate pitch and should be taken seriously because the value that a knuckleball can bring to any staff is immeasurable.”

While fellow members of the knuckleball fraternity stump for him, Dickey himself is not overly concerned with winning 20 games or Cy Young.

BOX SCORE

“It would be very satisfying,” Dickey said. “I don’t necessarily play for awards. In this moment I think I am able to hold it into a perspective that doesn’t distract me from the task at hand, and that’s winning on Saturday against the Marlins. That’s my only concern. Hopefully the statistics will take care of those other arguments.”

Dickey, Niekro and Wakefield were promoting the new baseball documentary “Knuckleball!”, created by Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg, at the MLB Fan Cave in Manhattan. While the film is geared to inform fans about the life of a knuckleball pitcher, Dickey is the main reason the pitch has been thrust into the national baseball conversation.

“I’m extremely excited for R.A.,” Niekro said. “He has every knuckleball pitcher alive watching him right now, plus every baseball fan, pitcher and batter.

“If you’re a good knuckleball pitcher, just like any other pitcher, they are going to talk about you. They talk about Randy Johnson’s fastball, talk about Steve Carlton’s slider, talk about R.A.’s knuckleball. I don’t see any difference in it.”

Regardless of whether he wins the award or not, Dickey has brought glory to a small brotherhood of pitchers.

“We’re all proud of him and what he’s accomplished this year,” Wakefield said.