New York Mets pitcher R.A. Dickey plans to write an autobiography about his baseball career, particularly the path it took since he incorporated a knuckleball into his repertoire before the 2006 season.
You might be wondering why we're mentioning this on a site devoted to Detroit sports. Well, if you're a Detroit Tigers fan, perhaps you'll remember Dickey's debut with his new pitch. It was explosive. And not in a good way for Dickey.
Starting for the Texas Rangers against the Tigers on April 6, 2006, Dickey gave up seven runs in 3 1/3 innings. Of the eight hits he allowed, six of them were home runs.
Two of those were hit by Chris Shelton, part of a prodigious April that made him look like the Tigers' first baseman of the future. (Shelton batted .326/.404/.783 with 10 home runs and 20 RBIs for the month, but eventually went into a tailspin that resulted in him being demoted to the minors at the end of July.)
Marcus Thames, Magglio Ordonez, Brandon Inge and Craig Monroe were the other four batters that took Dickey deep that evening.
It was the only major league appearance Dickey would make that season, as he was sent down to Triple-A Oklahoma City after the game. That gave him a final record of 0-1 with an 18.90 ERA for 2006.
Dickey made it back to the majors in 2008 with the Seattle Mariners. (He pitched well against the Tigers that year, too, compiling a 2.70 ERA in 13 1/3 innings.) He also had a stint with the Minnesota Twins in 2009 before settling in with the Mets last season and earning a two-year contract extension.
To bring the story full circle, Dickey pitched eight innings of shutout baseball versus Detroit last June, holding the Tigers to four hits. If I was writing a book, that might make for what we creative writing majors call "bookends" for a story. Will Dickey's autobiography follow that narrative?
(via Amazin' Avenue)