Split Finger and Knuckle

My two favorite pitches
in all of baseball
are
the split finger fastball
and
the knuckleball.
The split finger
rushes up to the plate
hard and then
dies like a springtime robin
pellet gun shot out of the sky,
wings stilled
and falling in a mirrored arc
of the earth's curvature.
This is a favorite pitch
of the set up man
and the closer
who work late in
the game
and want to make
death sure
the lid stays shut.
The knuckleball is my favorite
though.
It's drunken trajectory
can render a bat
dumbstruck and shouldered
like a oar hoisted out of the waves.
It doesn't spin.
The seams are motionless
as the ball creeps off the mound
and stumbles into the
arrest of the catcher's mit.
There used to be more
knuckleballers kicking
the rubber up on the hill.
Charlie Hough
Phil Niekro
Tim Wakefield
Jim Boughton
all played with
the drag of the wind
and threw pitches
that looked like
moths square dancing.
It doesn't have to be thrown hard.
Rotator cuffs don't have to be shredded
and a knuckler
can go longer on the hill
and further down the calendar
without going under.
R.A. Dickey is a knuckler
maybe Richie Sexson
would still have a job
if he knew how to float
them
instead of stand at the plate
or first base
like a wooden dime store indian.