And people wonder why I love knuckleballers

Jan 19, 2011, 5:03 PM EDT

R.A. Dickey spent some time tweeting via the New York Mets Twitter feed today. A question from a reader and Dickey’s answer:

Q: Do you enjoy Faulkner & if so what’s ur favorite work of his?

A: I do enjoy Faulkner. Hands down Absalom, Absalom!

I defy you to name a pitcher who can throw 100 miles per hour who has also read Absalom, Absalom! There are none. Only a knuckleballer. Maybe a couple of wise backup catchers. That’s it.

Baseball is a game peopled with garrulous outraged baffled ghosts.

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19 Comments (Feed for Comments)

Mr. Jason "El Bravo" Heyward - Jan 19, 2011 at 5:06 PM

There’s your opening day starter.

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billtpa - Jan 19, 2011 at 5:11 PM

As cool as that was, though, he followed it up with back-to-back tweets where the answer to the question was “consistency.” Not sure what to make of all this.

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jgraening - Jan 19, 2011 at 5:15 PM

Back in 2009, my wife gave me a Twins shirt with RA Dickey’s name and number on the back for our wedding anniversary. He was demoted to Triple-A the next day. I still wear the shirt with pride.

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- Mr. Jason "El Bravo" Heyward - Jan 19, 2011 at 5:17 PM
  
  The Big Show is indeed a fickle beast. A beast of which Mr. Dickey has since tamed.
  
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Old Gator - Jan 19, 2011 at 5:40 PM

Dickey has no taste in Faulkner. How he could prefer the relentless verbal sludge of Absalom, Absalom to As I lay Dying or The Sound and the Fury is just beyond me. Bill Clinton memorized Benjy’s soliloquy in college and could recite it verbatim whenever he got drunk at a party. I’ll take that over some knuckleballer who can’t hold his Faulkner any day.

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- Utley's Hair - Jan 19, 2011 at 6:19 PM
  
  That’s not the only thing he did when he was drunk…or so I’ve heard…
  
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  - spudchukar - Jan 19, 2011 at 6:29 PM
    
    Faulkner or Clinton?
- spudchukar - Jan 19, 2011 at 6:28 PM
  
  Little tough on old R.A., Gator. When most big-leaguers can’t finish Harry Potter, a literary reference is refreshing. He probably can’t spell Yoknapathawpha either. And it’s pretty cruel to mention “As I Lay Dying” knowing Mets fans are undoubtedly going to read these comments. Still preferred “The Fable”.
  
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  - Old Gator - Jan 19, 2011 at 7:43 PM
    
    Awww, what difference does it really make? Faulkner is just the poor man’s Cormac McCarthy anyway.
Gobias Industries - Jan 19, 2011 at 6:50 PM

Aroldis Chapman’s favorite book is sTORI Telling by Tori Spelling.

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gravytrain56 - Jan 19, 2011 at 7:26 PM

love dickey woukld start him on opening day. Don’tr love the young signing chhttp://defendingthecore.blogspot.com/2011/01/mets-sign-young.htmleck out my blog for why

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gravytrain56 - Jan 19, 2011 at 7:27 PM

http://defendingthecore.blogspot.com/2011/01/mets-sign-young.html

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gravytrain56 - Jan 19, 2011 at 7:27 PM

sorry for the double post.

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churchoftheperpetuallyoutraged - Jan 19, 2011 at 10:09 PM

I defy you to name a pitcher who can throw 100 miles per hour who has also read Absalom, Absalom! There are none. Only a knuckleballer. Maybe a couple of wise backup catchers. That’s it.

Not sure if serious* [.jpg] but I think this guy has him beat:
[Ross]Ohlendorf majored in Operations Research and Financial Engineering at Princeton University. In his senior thesis, Ohlendorf used sabermetrics to demonstrate the return on investment from the Major League Baseball Draft.

*how do you insert pics? i know how to do it with bbcoding, but i’m at a loss with html.

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BC - Jan 20, 2011 at 10:37 AM

Faulkner is an overrated, overblown blowhard. Gimme some Robert Ludlum any day.

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- Old Gator - Jan 20, 2011 at 11:48 AM
  
  I would love to take your bait this morning, but I haven’t eaten breakfast yet. I might re-engage this staggering exposition of kitsch flummery when I’ve had my coffee. Robert Ludlum? Give me a break. I’d take Seicho Matsumoto any day.
  
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  - BC - Jan 20, 2011 at 12:26 PM
    
    Actually I’m more into PJ O’Rourke. Just wanted to stay within genre on my previous comment.
  - Gobias Industries - Jan 20, 2011 at 12:41 PM
    
    Judy Blume anyone? Must just be me.
  - Old Gator - Jan 20, 2011 at 3:25 PM
    
    BC – me too, the old PJ of National Lampoon fame, before he became a raving neofascist mudpuppy’s cloaca (now come on – weren’t you getting tired of “chipwich” and “deuschnozzle”?)