Cy Young Award Winner R.A. Dickey Shares Personal Story as Featured Speaker at Chattanooga FCA Banquet

Ringgold, GA-(WDEF) Former Braves pitcher and Cy Young Award winner R-A Dickey was the featured speaker at the annual Chattanooga FCA banquet, which was held at the Colonade in Ringgold, Georgia.
Before the banquet, Dickey spent time with local athletes, discussing how his Christian faith helped him get through a traumatic life experience.
It’s not often high school baseball players hear from a Cy Young award winner, especially one so willing to talk about a painful subject
Said Dickey:”Having to overcome sexual abuse when you are 8-year-old. That’s part of my story. Being able to reflect back on that and not be bitter and hateful. I think one of the most valuable things you can do as a human being is being able to hold what is broken about the world with what’s incredible about the world at the same time. Learning how to do that has kind of been a life mission of mine. I’m excited to get to share about it tonight here at the F-C-A event.”
Dickey was also excited in 2012 when he won the CY Young award as a knuckle-ball pitcher.
Dickey:”A knuckle-baller had never won it in the history of baseball. So it was something to be shared with a lot of guys that had a lot of great years. Phil Niekro and Joe Niekro. The list is very long.”
The list of knuckle-ballers in the majors is not very long right now.
Dickey was one of just two primary knuck-ballers last year. So why don’t we see more?
Said Dickey:”Guys don’t believe in it. You have to really be convincing, and to be convincing as a knuckle-baller means being consistent. So how do you find consistency with a pitch that by it’s very nature is inconsistent. I mean that’s the real rub.”
Dickey was never teammates with former Braves star Chipper Jones.
But Dickey likely knew from his days with the Mets, that Chipper was a Hall of Famer.
Dickey:”You know I’m a knuckle-ball pitcher, so you are getting a knuckle-ball every pitch. It was a 3-0 count. There was a guy on first base. I didn’t think in a million years that he would swing. So I threw him a fast-ball. 3-0 count, and he hit it like 8 miles. Kind of a glimpse into a really professional hitter.”