

Colleagues have suggested we put Rivera's signature pitch side-by-side with Dickey's and compare the two of them. So let's do that here.

Since Dickey joined the Mets in 2010, he has thrown 5,570 knuckleballs. When a plate appearance ends with a Dickey knuckler, opponents are hitting .228 with a .603 OPS. They've averaged a home run for every 192 knuckleballs thrown.

That sounds impressive until you look at Rivera's numbers in that same span. His 1,638 cutters thrown over the past three seasons have netted opponents a .202 batting average and .508 OPS. He's allowed a home run with the cutter at a rate of once for every 410 cutters thrown.
