Posted on 12/28/2020 1:39:06 AM PST by PallMal
ATLANTA -- Hall of Fame pitcher Phil Niekro has died at the age of 81.
Niekro passed away in his sleep on Saturday night. The suburban Atlanta resident had a longtime battle with cancer.
(Excerpt) Read more at mlb.com ...
I remember his 300th win when he pitched for the Yankees.
That knuckler of his confounded batters for a generation. RIP, Phil Niekro.
4. Jason Varitek: "You know, catching the knuckleball, it's like trying to catch a fly with a chopstick."
3. Bob Uecker: "The way to catch a knuckleball is to wait until it stops rolling and then pick it up."
2. Richie Hebner: "Hitting Niekro's knuckleball is like eating soup with a fork."
1. Willie Stargell: "Throwing a knuckleball for a strike is like throwing a butterfly with hiccups across the street into your neighbor's mailbox."
If Niekro had played for half-way decent teams in the 1960s/1970s....he would have ended his career with 400 wins easily.
I tried and tried to learn to throw a knuckleball when I was younger. Everything I read said it had to be thrown approx. 66 mph and rotate one and a half times over 60 feet.
I finally figured out my hands simply weren’t big enough to grip the ball the way it needed to be gripped but I did learn to throw a mean screwball.
R I P
It was a joy to watch such a master....
I recall that player.
I thought his name was pronounced Phil Nergo.
Back then, Black folks were often referred to as Negro.
Back then, they taught kids to throw accurately before they taught them to throw hard. I was quite accurate but gave up a lot of homeruns as a result.
When I tried to throw hard, I lost control. So I learned a sort of knuckleball just to confuse batters once in awhile.
With a lot of practice, I graduated from bad to merely mediocre. But I also got the strikeout rate way up and the homeruns allowed rate way down. Even a juvenile version of a knuckleball isn't easy to learn to throw.
I have a family member who played for the Braves in the ‘70s, so I met Phil Niekro a couple of times. Nice guy. I’m pretty sure I also met his brother Joe somewhere along the way. I was just a kid then.
In the mid 90’s, Phil managed the Colorado Silver Bullets, a women’s pro baseball team. They went around playing minor league or semi-pro teams, usually lost. But interesting games. Some of them can be found online.
I salute you sir, it's not easing hitting a stick that's only 2.75" in diameter from 60' away......LOL!
I watched the video at the link. It was nice to be reminded that at one time there was goodness in this country.
A fine 6-minute video at the link. Really worth a look. Many thanks for posting.
Back when baseball was a sport and not a social experiment gone whacked.
I was a pitcher in High School. My dad taught me to throw the knuckler, just like Phil Niekro.
He was playing professional baseball through the 1987 season! And to me, that was not very long ago.
One of the greats, RIP. At 40 years of age in the 1979 season he won 21 games and lost 20 with an era of 3.39. He pitched 342 innings. It’s absolutely retarded MLB has turned its back on a pitch that allows someone to do stuff like that at 40 and beyond. He pitched until he was 48.
FReegards
RIP.
I’m surprised there aren’t more knuckleball pitchers. There’s a large population that can throw hard enough to be successful. A knuckleballer can throw more often and more innings. It must be a very difficult pitch to throw and control.
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