When it comes to pitching, one of the biggest milestones is strikeouts. Ten strikeouts in a game; 200 in a season, all kinds of career numbers, etc. It’s one of those that Boston’s famous knuckleballer, Tim Wakefield is hoping to reach early this season, and MLB.com has him projected to do so against the Yankees. At 1,979, Wakefield is just a few batters away from 2,000 for his career, a number only reached by 63 others before him.

Wakefield grew up as a position player and was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1988, but was told he’d never make the big leagues with his skills. So he started developing his famous knuckleball and transitioned to the mound by 1990, where he lead the Single-A Carolina League in innings pitched. He spent some time in the majors with Pittsburgh before going back down to Triple-A Buffalo for the 1994 season to work on control. He was released and quickly picked up by Boston and the rest, as they say, is history.

You can say that Wakefield has control issues, which is why his hit batters count is so high, but obviously that’s being facetious. The nature of the knuckleball is unpredictable, which is why so many feel the “wrath” of Wakefield. The truth is that he’s one of the best knuckleballers to ever toss from the mound. And with a 70-mile per hour “fastball” to back it up, he’s one of the biggest unexpected threats to a batter in the game.

It’s almost amazing to think that Wakefield throws 20-25 MPH slower than most other pitchers, yet his current spot on at 67th on the all-time career strikeouts list shows just how effective a dancing knuckleball can be. It also shows just how safe the arm motion is. Wakefield is 43 years old and he’s still going strong. He’s climbed the strikeout list slower than most other hurlers, but you know what they say: slow and steady wins the race.