Knuckleball major-league pitcher Robert Alan Dickey attended UT from 1993 to 1996, majoring in English literature and maintaining a 3.5 GPA before being drafted in the first round of the 1996 major league baseball draft by the Texas Rangers (18th overall pick). Initially offered a signing bonus of $810,000, the Rangers reduced their offer to $75,000 after medical tests revealed a congenital missing ulnar collateral ligament of his pitching arm’s elbow joint.
Dickey took the offer and debuted with the Rangers in 2001. His pitching was pedestrian. In 2005 he began to throw the knuckleball, which he had realized could prolong his baseball career, but failed to control it and was demoted to the Rangers’ AAA team. He spent 2007 and 2008 in the minor leagues. In December 2008 he signed a minor-league contract with an invitation to spring training with the Minnesota Twins and went on to pitch 35 games for the Twins that season. The New York Mets purchased Dickey’s contract from the Triple A Buffalo Bisons on May 19, 2010, and he made his debut for the Mets the same day. In 2012 Dickey was selected to his first career All-Star game as the only knuckleball pitcher in the league. In 2012 he also won the Sporting News Pitcher of the Year Award and became the first knuckleball pitcher to win the Cy Young Award. In 2013 he joined the Toronto BlueJays and was awarded the 2013 Pitcher’s Fielding Bible and the AL Pitcher’s Gold Glove Award.