Knuckleballs apparently obtain their erratic flight because of the baseball's slow couple of rotations during travel to the plate, plus unpredictable wind or air movement's effect during the ball's travel. Is the erratic movement of knuckleballs less erratic when used in indoor ball parks?

Knuckleball's velocity is extremely low compared with a baseball pitcher's conventional repertoire of fastball, slider, curveball. And its erratic movement causes the catcher's ability to react to any attempted steal by a base runner to be poor. How do successful knuckleball pitchers hold base runners on base and prevent or retard base stealing and their ability to take extra bases on balls hit? Since successful knuckleball pitchers' careers tend to be exceptionally long, they can do it. But how?

Not responsive, but I think Gillian Welch did a song about knuckleball pitchers that I enjoyed.

Strike out all batters, then there are no worries about covering the bases.

Mark

Why do knuckleball pitchers have such long careers?

I suspect that even when a batter hits a knuckleball with a swing that would produce a home run if the pitch was a fastball, slider, or curve, it is still commonly going to be caught well inside the park by one of the fielders. The energy in a faster pitched ball contributes greatly to the distance it travels when hit. That added energy just isn't there in a knuckleball. And the knuckler produces a lot more pop-ups too, (both fair & foul) , as it is much more difficult to hit a knuckler with the sweet spots of both ball and bat meeting squarely. Same is true for what would normally be a solid base hit or line drive.

A change-up has less energy too, but not nearly as little as the knuckler.

Teams, (players, owners, and managers) don't much care about whether the out is from a strike out, a slow infield grounder tossed to first base before the runner gets there, or a caught pop-up or long ball. It's getting the other side out each inning without allowing them to score which wins games and pennants.

Ya think? Or is it that throwing the knuckler also is much easer on the pitcher's arm over the long haul?

BTW, are there any good "fork ball" pitchers around any more?