Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

Throwing Home

Cy Young Award-winning pitcher R.A. Dickey talks to The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart about memoir

December 5, 2012 Life changed for R.A. Dickey only a little more than two years ago. Longtime minor-leaguer finally hit the majors with a new pitch: the knuckleball. Since then, he has won the Cy Young Award, given annually to the best pitcher in the National League– another pitcher wins for the American League– as a member of the New York Mets. He scaled Mount Kilimanjaro. He was featured in the baseball documentary Knuckleball!. He wrote a book, Wherever I Wind Up, a memoir detailing his unique and topsy-turvy career. And now he’s made an appearance on Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show to talk about it all.

The Nashville-born star is renowned for his knuckleballl, the most difficult pitch in baseball; Dickey is just one of a handful of major leaguers in history to master it. His memoir details his unexpected path to success: after struggling the minors, he committed himself to a rebirth. Dickey spent years learning to throw a knuckleball. Finally, in 2010 at 35 years old, he found himself as a regular starter for the Mets. Two years later, he won the Cy Young.

Dickey is a noted book lover, and he told Stewart about his path to authorship: “I’ve always been drawn to the written word. I think there’s something very permanent about it,” he said. “I became a voracious reader in high school…and had a passion for trying to tell story.”

Click here to watch the full interview (two parts). To read Chapter 16’s interview with Dickey, click here.

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