Atlanta Braves

Date of birth: April 1, 1939 Blaine, Ohio

Date of death: December 26, 2020 (81)

High School: Bridgeport HS (Bridgeport, OH)

Location: The mound.

Nickname: Knucksie. Befits probably the last man in the HOF to throw a knuckler.

First Impression; There are two things that I recall about Phil Niekro. We used to call my uncle that when playing whiffle ball. Whiffle and knucklers go hand in hand.

Career stats: He had an amazing career with a 318-274 record. Only 24 players have won over 300 games. Phil is 16th all time. Verlander is 52 behind him and Verlander in 2026 is 43. Niekro did pitch until he was 48.

He started 716 games and pitched in 148 others, even racking up 29 saves over the years. He was a Hall of Famer who was selected to 5 All-Star games, was a 5 time gold glove award winner and threw a no hitter on August 5, 1973.

All time stat: He led the league in Wins twice and losses 4 times. In 1977 He had quite the year leading the NL in losses 20, games started 43, complete games 20, innings 330.1, hits allowed 315, earned runs allowed 148, walks 164 and strikeouts 262.

Fun fact: He threw 226 wild pitches in his career. That’s not bad for a knuckleballer. Nolan Ryan pitched 18 fewer innings and had 277 wild pitches in his career.

Ever a Future Star?  He was a “Rookie Star” in 1964.

Rookie or final card? No, he had cards up to 1988.

Hall of Fame? Number retired? National Baseball Hall of Fame (1997) and Atlanta Braves Hall of Fame. They also retired his number 35.

Military service: He missed the 1963 season due to military service.

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