According to more than one teammate and reporter, pitcher Phil Niekro most of the time did not know where his “trademark pitch” was going, and neither did the catcher, hitter, and umpire!
But, “KNUCKSIE,” his nickname among many folks who were close to him and some of his detractors, too, made use of this unpredictable pitch well enough and long enough to not only win 318 major league baseball games but to earn a place in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
His 24 years of major league baseball ended in 1987 when Phil was 48 years old; the “Big Leagues” did not begin until 1964 when he finally got to put in 10 games of relief pitching for the Milwaukee Braves. He finally “came into his own” and “blossomed” as a starter in 1967 after the Braves had moved to Atlanta. His ERA of 1.87 led the League but surprisingly only resulted in an 11 wins and 9 losses record!
1969, though, was a different story, as he was “runnerup” for the Cy Young Award and posted an outstanding record of 23 wins and only 13 losses. His KNUCKLEBALL “fluttered” all over the plate area and was hard for the catcher to catch and even harder for the batter to hit! The Braves won the National League West Title that season.
Phil Niekro did something that most pitchers do not, and this was to pitch a NO-HITTER in 1973.
Two more seasons saw Niekro post 20 wins (or more) records, and he finished his career with a cumulative record of 318 wins and 274 losses with an ERA of 3.35.
In 1997, he was inducted into the BASEBALL HALL of FAME.
An interesting note is that Phil and brother, Joe, posted 539 wins together and are still the winningest set of brothers (just ahead of Gaylord and Jim Perry).
Oh, yes, when he was 43 years old, Phil Niekro pitched a 3-hit shut-out for a 4-0 win over the San Diego Padres - and, he hit a 2-run HOME RUN in the 8th inning in the game that helped send the Braves to the play-offs!
He finished 17 - 4 for that season with a 3.61 ERA in 35 starts, pretty “salty” (as my Dad would say) for an “old guy.”
In 1985, Niekro pitched his “milestone” 300th victory while pitching for a “new” home team, the Yankees, and shutting out 8-0 the Blue Jays!
How many major league pitchers can say they recorded 121 victories while being past the age of 40? Maybe one of you will call my number 972-564-6822 and leave me the answer!
Philip Henry Niekro - 1939 Blaine, Ohio, to 2020 Flowery Branch, Georgia.
20 seasons with the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves and later with the New York Yankees (two 16 wins seasons), Cleveland Indians, and Toronto Blue Jays.
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