Doug Flutie, other former QBs compete in knuckleball reality series
Doug Flutie will compete for a shot to join the Arizona Diamondbacks in spring training. Credit: AP
Just because football season is over doesn't mean all the quarterbacks go home.
Five former college and NFL quarterbacks will compete in an MLB Network reality series that pits the group against each other in a competition to see who can throw the best knuckleball, with the winner getting an invite to major league spring training.
The Next Knuckler premieres on Feb. 13 at 9 p.m. and the winner of the contest will secure a trip to Arizona Diamondbacks camp. The competition comes on the heels of R.A. Dickey's National League Cy Young Award, the first time a knuckleballer has won the honor.
Former NCAA Division I FBS quarterbacks John David Booty (USC), Josh Booty (LSU), Doug Flutie (Boston College), David Greene (Georgia) and Ryan Perrilloux (LSU & Jacksonville State) star in the series, which will be hosted by former Red Sox knuckleballer Tim Wakefield and MLB Network's Kevin Millar.
“I’ve dedicated my entire baseball life to the challenging art of throwing the knuckleball,” Wakefield says in the premiere episode. “Now, I’ve embarked on this mission to continue the knuckleball legacy. These guys were great athletes on the gridiron so I wanted to try this experiment out. You don’t have to grip the baseball the way I threw it, but if you want to win, you have to lose the spin.”
