The Curious Case of R.A. Dickey

Today’s New York Times had an interesting story by Alan Schwarz about R.A. Dickey, who’s now floating his knuckleball in the Seattle Mariners organization. He spent last season on the Brewers’ Triple-A farm club, but found himself with the Mariners after they selected him in the Rule 5 draft from Minnesota. Since Dickey would have to be offered back to the Twins if he was sent down, he has a decent shot at staying on Seattle’s major league roster this year.

Anyway, that’s hardly what’s intriguing about the man’s story. His right elbow is the curiosity. It’s lacking an ulnar collateral ligament, which is the problematic piece of tissue that pitchers have been known to blow out, requiring a repair procedure that’s come to be known as Tommy John surgery. This makes Dickey a medical anomaly, as doctors wonder how he’s able to perform simple tasks like turn a doorknob, let alone throw a baseball.

Even more engrossing is how the abnormality was discovered. Dickey was a first-round draft of the Texas Rangers, and a team doctor noticed something strange about the way his arm was hanging by his side in a Baseball America cover photo. (An image of the cover is included with the NYT article, if you click over.) The Rangers examined him again, and ended up reducing their contract offer by more than $750,000. 12 years later, and now with a knuckleball in his arsenal, Dickey’s still throwing that baseball and should be a part of the Mariners’ bullpen this season.

And up until this point, I thought the most fascinating thing about Dickey was that he gave up six home runs in a game against the Detroit Tigers back in 2006.