Posted on 12/28/2020 9:59:22 AM PST by mac_truck
ATLANTA — Phil Niekro threw a pitch that baffled hitters and catchers. Heck, he didn’t even know where it was going most of the time.
But the knuckleball carried Niekro to more than 300 wins, earned him a spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame and left him with a nickname that stuck for the rest of his life...Knucksie.
The longtime stalwart of the Atlanta Braves rotation died after a long fight with cancer, the team announced Sunday, becoming the seventh member of the Hall of Fame to pass away in 2020. He was 81.
Niekro won 318 games over his 24-year career, which ended in 1987 at age 48 after he made one final start with the Braves. The right-hander was a five-time All-Star who had three 20-win seasons with Atlanta.
Niekro also pitched for the New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians and Toronto Blue Jays late in his career. Incredibly, he had 121 wins after his 40th birthday.
Niekro joined Lou Brock, Whitey Ford, Bob Gibson, Al Kaline, Joe Morgan and Tom Seaver as Hall of Famers who died in 2020 — the most ever to pass away in a calendar year, according to spokesman Jon Shestakofsky. “These names, and these men, will be remembered forever in Cooperstown,” he said.
Niekro was remembered by the Hall as “master of the knuckleball and a great mentor, leader and friend.”
(Excerpt) Read more at reviewjournal.com ...
“Heck, he didn’t even know where it was going most of the time.”
Not sure on that. He threw a lot of strikes with it but the real advantage to it was that you didn’t have to hit corners with it. It would come in at a slower speed and about the time it got right in front of the plate, it would take off with the seam it was on. I have seen those creature break two feet in a direction in a three foot space coming back. Trying to hit one was like trying to swat a fly with a switch.
Both Niekro brothers threw one, but Phil was the most successful.
wy69
A good knuckleball only goes about 65mph, it is a lot less wear and tear on the arm when you aren’t trying to rocket it at 95+.
My local man Tim Wakefield was a workhorse.
When he hit his three home runs in one World Series game in 1977, the third one was against knuckleballer Charlie Hough. The ball landed about three zip codes away in deep centerfield at the “old” Yankee Stadium.
Condolences to family and friends of Phil Niekro. I could toss a decent knuckleball in HS and college...but nothing like Niekro. Thanks Phil. love
Yes he did. I remember the homer he launched on the light tower in the All-Star game and Tiger stadium.
Didn’t they have a Reggie candy bar? Got it...
https://the-foods-we-loved.fandom.com/wiki/Reggie!_Bar
Whoa the baseball memories. Great times in a young man’s life.
In the BIG inning : )
He looked like an old man.
Turns out, he was.
Not many players can play MLB until they are 47!
My husband has one of his signed baseballs.
“...Jackson feasted on knuckleballs...”
In an article in the New York Times in 1984, Jackson said, “I had trouble with Phil Niekro’s knuckleball this year; some pitchers are tougher than others. He also said in the article, “There’s a certain way you time a knuckleball pitcher.”
I had an opportunity to be coached by former Pirates relief pitcher Dick Depker in high school and he threw one and taught us how to hit it. It’s a total different theory acting more like hitting a fast pitch softball than a baseball. Front of the box and shorten the swing some. You try to get at it before it loses enough speed and the seams take over. Knuckle curves and forkballs are in the same category but mostly break down and away instead of taking off any direction.
I can remember in an all star game Hoyt Wilhelm threw an o-2 knuckleball, the announcers called it the big one, with the wind in his face, and it crossed the plate about belt high but before it got to the catcher, it went over the heads of the catcher and the ump to the screen. Difficult to hit that type of pitch.
wy69
I was fortunate to meet Phil on several occasions over the past few years. He was a fixture in the Braves triple-A stadium.
I refuse to call them the Gwinnett Strippers. They will always be the Gwinnett Braves.
He was a good man and always friendly.
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