Unless you’re a die-hard baseball fan — or deeply care about the Boston Red Sox — the name Doug Mirabelli probably doesn’t mean much to you.
Mirabelli was best known as the personal catcher for Tim Wakefield, a Red Sox pitcher who threw a knuckleball. Most major league pitchers are capable of throwing multiple pitches at high speeds, often north of 90 miles per hour. Wakefield threw his pitches at about 60 miles per hour, but he made it in the majors because his knuckleballs were famous for moving in unexpected directions. Even Wakefield didn’t really know where the ball was going. (He struck out more than 2,000 batters in his career, but is also 7th all-time in hit batsmen.) That meant that the Red Sox needed a catcher who was capable of catching Wakefield’s fluttery pitches:
Enter Mirabelli.
He wasn’t an exceptional baseball player in any way. His career batting average — .231 — is below what a normal major leaguer would hit. In 12 seasons, only once did he hit more than 10 home runs. His OPS+ — a way to compare hitters to one another — was 87, a full 13 points below league average.
But Mirabelli was exceptional at catching Wakefield’s knuckleball. He was so good that Boston once traded him away to San Diego, then realized months later that they’d made a mistake and traded back for him. The Red Sox famously even arranged for a police escort to make sure he made it to the ballpark to catch that night’s game vs. the Yankees.
I hadn’t thought about Mirabelli in well over a decade until this song popped up on YouTube — a cover of a Gillian Welch tune, allegedly inspired by Mirabelli, called “Knuckleball Catcher.”
Welch sings:
Now a bricklayer can be an all-time player, too
But a knuckleball catcher only gets one job to do
Some days, we all feel a little like knuckleball catchers. We work hard, but start to become specialists in the things we do. We start to wonder: Is this all people think I can do? Does anyone realize there’s a lot more I’m capable of?
It’s why we all have to continue to push ourselves out of our comfort zones. Side projects can be great ways to prove what else you can do. Keep learning, keep asking questions, keep trying new things. You’re more than a knuckleball catcher — you’ve got plenty of room to grow.