Editing Hoyt Wilhelm (section)

==Legacy==
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|quote=[Hoyt] had the best knuckleball you'd ever want to see. He knew where it was going when he threw it, but when he got two strikes on you, he'd break out one that even he didn't know where it was going.
|source=&nbsp;– [[Brooks Robinson]]<ref name=obituary>{{cite news|url=https://www.espn.com/classic/obit/s/2002/0824/1422325.html|date=August 29, 2002|title=Wilhelm first reliever elected to Hall of Fame|agency=Associated Press|publisher=ESPN|work=ESPN Classic|access-date=November 1, 2011|archive-date=March 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304093707/http://espn.go.com/classic/obit/s/2002/0824/1422325.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
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Wilhelm was known as a "relief ace", and his teams used him in a new way that became a trend. Rather than bringing in a relief pitcher only when the starting pitcher had begun to struggle, teams increasingly called upon their relief pitchers toward the end of any close game.<ref name="James2010">{{cite book|last=James|first=Bill|title=The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3uSbqUm8hSAC&pg=PA234|access-date=January 20, 2015|date=May 11, 2010|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-1-4391-0693-8|page=234|archive-date=February 15, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170215005001/https://books.google.com/books?id=3uSbqUm8hSAC&pg=PA234|url-status=live}}</ref> Wilhelm was the first relief pitcher elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.<ref name=obituary/>

He is also remembered as one of the most successful and "probably the most famous 'old' player in history."<ref name=SABR /> Although, due largely to his military service, Wilhelm did not debut in the major leagues until he was already 29 years old, he nonetheless managed to appear in 21&nbsp;major league seasons. He earned the nickname "Old Folks" while he still had more than a decade left in his playing career.<ref name=SABR /> He was the oldest player in Major League Baseball for each of his final seven seasons.<ref name=hallbio />

Former teammate [[Bill Skowron|Moose Skowron]] commented on Wilhelm's key pitch, saying, "Hoyt was a good guy, and he threw the best knuckleball I ever saw. You never knew what Hoyt's pitch would do. I don't think he did either."<ref name=Rosenstein>{{cite news|last1=Rosenstein|first1=Johnny|title=Hoyt Wilhelm 1923–2002|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2002/08/25/hoyt-wilhelm-1923-2002/|access-date=January 16, 2015|work=[[Chicago Tribune]]|date=August 25, 2002|archive-date=December 8, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208100042/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2002-08-25/sports/0208250363_1_oversized-mitt-orioles-catchers-knuckleball|url-status=live}}</ref> Baseball executive [[Roland Hemond]] agreed, saying, "Wilhelm's knuckleball did more than anyone else's ... There was so much action on it."<ref name=Rosenstein/>

Before Wilhelm, the knuckleball was primarily mixed in to older pitchers' repertoires at the end of their careers to offset their slowing [[fastball]]s and to reduce stress on their arms, thereby extending their careers. Wilhelm broke with tradition when he began throwing the pitch as a teenager and threw it nearly every pitch.<ref name=SABR /> ''[[The New York Times]]'' linked his knuckleball with that of modern pitcher [[R. A. Dickey]], as Wilhelm taught pitcher [[Charlie Hough]] the knuckleball in 1971, and Hough taught it to Dickey while coaching with the [[Texas Rangers (baseball)|Texas Rangers]].<ref name=grandfather>{{cite web|last1=Waldstein|first1=David|title=Wilhelm, Grandfather of Dickey's Knuckleball, Once No-Hit Yankees|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/22/sports/baseball/hoyt-wilhelm-grandfather-of-r-a-dickeys-knuckleball-once-no-hit-yankees.html?_r=0|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=January 16, 2015|date=June 21, 2012|archive-date=November 6, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211106103834/https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/22/sports/baseball/hoyt-wilhelm-grandfather-of-r-a-dickeys-knuckleball-once-no-hit-yankees.html?_r=0|url-status=live}}</ref>