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Barney Schultz

Pitcher Barney Schultz Mixed It Up With Milwaukee Braves Hitters in 1961

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Schultz endured the “Take your
cap off, in case you get traded”
pose request from Topps

Barney Schultz is a man with honor.

I delighted in the http://www.retrosheet.org/ find of his 1961 relief outing against the Braves. He fanned SIX Milwaukee hitters in 2.1 innings. I envisioned a smirking knuckleballer watching hitters pull their hair out after each strikeout. Over and over, he’d throw the same fluttering butterfly pitch, knowing they’d never touch it — even when they knew what was coming.

Maybe not. Schultz answered:

“No, not all knucklers. I used fastball and curve at times.”

The next year, Schultz recorded a then-record ninth straight relief appearances.

History remembers Schultz most for his 1964 heroics with the St. Louis Cardinals. Schultz recalled the team skipper:

“Johnny Keane was a fine man — a good manager and knew how to get the best out of his players. Yes, he did believe in me. I played for Keane about four years. In the triple A Leagues, he used me mainly as a starter, but a lot as a game saver at times.


Yours in sports,
Barney Schultz

P.S. Excuse my writing. I’m recovering from back surgery and mostly in a prone position.”

To learn more about Schultz, check out this fine SABR biography by John Stahl!

Barney Schultz Shares Knuckleball Secrets

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Once a pitching coach, always a pitching coach?

I asked Barney Schultz about his brief stardom as a 1960s reliever. The aged rookie found his overdue ticket to the bigs in the form of the knuckleball.

I never got to see him pitch. I remember him as the tiny head on the Cardinals Coaches cards in the 1970s. No, I didn’t ask him about Mickey Mantle’s homer in the 1964 World Series. I wanted to know about his best-day knuckler. Did it resemble Hoyt Wilhelm’s? Schultz replied:

“Basically the difference in knuckleballs is about the same. Some sink and flutter. Some flutter more (good movement). It is sometimes called a ‘dancing pitch.’ Some pitchers throw it softer than others.

I threw mine as hard as I could for a knuckler. Some pitchers wanted to learn the pitch but the grip of the ball has to be practiced first.

A good grip can only be learned over time. It is a difficult pitch to learn. Take a ball and grip it with your 2nd and 3rd knuckles and imagine throwing it to a batter and being able to control.

I bent my knuckles and used tips of my fingers to sort of dig into the ball and popped my wrist as you do with a fastball.”

Tomorrow: Schultz recalls his best manager ever, along with a six-strikeout day versus the Braves!