RUBBER ARM, ACT 2

You remember R.A. Dickey. He's the guy who pitched for the Rangers despite not having an ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow. The last time we saw him in the majors was on April 6, 2006, not long after he started throwing a knuckleball.

Mike Strasinger

Look out, Tim Wakefield.

In 3 1/3 innings against the Tigers, Dickey got lit up for six homers—tying a modern major league record—before being banished to the bushes. "I was throwing it 62 mph and was scared for my life," he says. "After the fourth homer, I could have gone back to my conventional style of pitching to not embarrass myself anymore. But I didn't. It's a cliché, but I persevered."

That meant continuing to hone the knuckleball with mentor Charlie Hough. And last season, at age 32, Dickey went 136 with Triple-A Nashville and was named Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Year. "I'm a different animal now," he says. In December, the Mariners surprised everyone, including Dickey, by selecting the righthander in the Rule 5 draft, normally reserved for much younger players.

"Charlie told me, 'It took me one day to learn to throw a good knuckleball and a lifetime to learn to throw it for strikes,' " Dickey says. "He also told me that if I have a bad knuckleball inning, my other stuff is good enough toget guys out." Dickey's fastball reaches the high 80s; he also has a changeup and an overhand curve. And he now throws his knuckler significantly harder than most guys, from 69 to 82 mph.

"I've done a lot of research on knuckleballers, from Hoyt Wilhelm to Wilbur Wood," Dickey says. "Most of them won the majority of their games between the ages of 32 and 40."

Tim Wakefield may finally have an heir apparent.

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