Editing Knuckleball (section)

==Catching==
{{rquote|right|The way to catch a knuckleball is to wait until it stops rolling and pick it up.|[[Bob Uecker]]{{r|hoffman}}}}
As with hitters, the unpredictable motion of the knuckleball makes it one of the most difficult pitches for catchers to handle, and they tend to be charged with a significantly higher number of [[passed ball]]s. Former catcher [[Bob Uecker]], who caught for Phil Niekro, said, "The way to catch a knuckleball is to wait until it stops rolling and pick it up."<ref name=hoffman /> Bouton said, "Catchers hate it. Nobody likes to warm up with you." According to Adair, the 150&nbsp;ms minimum human [[reaction time]] may be too slow to adjust to a knuckleball's changing direction.{{r|newyorker}}

A team will sometimes employ a catcher solely for games started by a knuckleballer.{{r|keating20130402}} The "knuckleball catcher" is equipped with an oversized knuckleball catcher's mitt,<ref name="sullivan20120710">{{cite web | url=https://www.sbnation.com/2012/7/10/3150552/carlos-ruiz-josh-thole-ra-dickey-glove | title=All-Star Game 2012: The Glove To Catch R. A. Dickey | publisher=SB Nation | access-date=26 May 2014 | author=Sullivan, Jeff| date=10 July 2012 }}</ref> similar to a [[first baseman's glove]]; [[Doug Mirabelli]], formerly of the [[Red Sox]], used a [[softball]] catcher's mitt. The [[Boston Red Sox]], in their [[2004 in baseball|2004]] world championship season, had Mirabelli regularly catching in place of [[Jason Varitek]] when [[Tim Wakefield]] was pitching. This use of a "specialist" catcher continued into the 2008 season following the signing of [[Kevin Cash]], and 2009 saw [[George Kottaras]] fulfill this role. On August 26, the first time [[Víctor Martínez (baseball)|Victor Martinez]] caught Wakefield, he used a [[first baseman's glove]], instead of a regular catcher's mitt.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://soxblog.projo.com/2009/08/victor-martinez-1.html |title=Victor Martinez passes the Wakefield test |date=August 26, 2009 |last=Barbarisi |first=Dan |work=[[The Providence Journal]] |access-date=May 24, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715121744/http://soxblog.projo.com/2009/08/victor-martinez-1.html |archive-date=July 15, 2011 }}</ref> For a catcher, a key disadvantage to using a first baseman's glove mitt is that they are not designed for easy extraction of the ball from the glove, making it harder to prevent baserunners from [[stolen base|stealing]].

On occasion, teams have traded knuckleball pitchers and their catchers in the same transaction. In baseball terminology the pitcher and catcher together are known as a "battery", and having a catcher experienced in catching a knuckleball pitcher is preferable, so the trade of pitcher and catcher together is sometimes referred to as a "batteries included" trade.  For example, [[Josh Thole]] and [[Mike Nickeas]] went with Dickey when the pitcher was traded to the [[Toronto Blue Jays]] in late 2012, and the team later signed [[Henry Blanco]], who also caught for Dickey.<ref name="keating20130402">{{cite news | url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-baseball-bluejays-knuckleball-idUSBRE93203V20130403 | title=Arencibia lives knuckleball nightmare on opening day | date=2013-04-02 | work=Reuters | access-date=2013-04-07 | author=Keating, Steve}}</ref>

The record for passed balls in an inning (4) was first set by [[Ray Katt]] of the [[History of the New York Giants (NL)|New York Giants]] in 1954, catching Hoyt Wilhelm.<ref name="mlbcom2013">{{cite news|url=http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130806&content_id=56093818&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb |title=Red Sox catcher Ryan Lavarnway ties big league record with four passed balls |work=mlb.com |access-date=September 27, 2013}}</ref> It was tied by [[Geno Petralli]] of the Texas Rangers in 1987 while trying to catch knuckleball pitcher [[Charlie Hough]], and tied again in 2013 when [[Ryan Lavarnway]] of the Boston Red Sox had four in the first inning, catching knuckleballer [[Steven Wright (baseball)|Steven Wright]] in Wright's first major league start.<ref name="mlbcom2013"/>

Varitek holds the postseason record with three passed balls in the 13th inning of [[2004 American League Championship Series#Game 5|Game 5 of the 2004 American League Championship Series]] while catching Wakefield.<ref>{{cite web|author1=Mark Feinsand|title=Yanks, Sox headed back to NY|url=http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/content/printer_friendly/nyy/y2004/m10/d18/c899464.jsp|work=MLB.com|access-date=2014-09-18|date=19 October 2004|archive-date=2016-03-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304054100/http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/content/printer_friendly/nyy/y2004/m10/d18/c899464.jsp|url-status=dead}} The passed balls allowed Yankee Gary Sheffield to reach first after a strikeout and then advance to second and third; but didn't score, and the Red Sox won the game.</ref>

In 2013, [[J. P. Arencibia]] set a [[Toronto Blue Jays]] franchise record by allowing four passed balls in the season opener (a 4–2 loss) while catching for knuckleballer R. A. Dickey. He never caught for Dickey again.