Philip Henry Niekro (pronounced NEE-kro) (born April 1, 1939), nicknamed "Knucksie", is an American former baseball pitcher who played 24 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), 20 of them with the Milwaukee / Atlanta Braves. He was the younger brother of pitcher Phil Niekro, and the father of Major League pitcher and first baseman Lance Niekro.

After two seasons in New York, Niekro pitched for the He started the 1987 season with the Indians, going 7-11 in 26 starts.On September 23, 1987, Niekro signed with the Atlanta Braves.His pitching featured the knuckleball, which frustrated major league hitters.

Ralph Kiner compared Niekro's special pitch to "watching After the end of his professional baseball career, Niekro managed the all-women Niekro was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1997, his fifth year of eligibility. Many thanks to him.

Catching Niekros knuckleball was great.

Much of the play-by-play, game results, and transaction information both shown and used to create certain data sets was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by Win Expectancy, Run Expectancy, and Leverage Index calculations provided by Tom Tango of Total Zone Rating and initial framework for Wins above Replacement calculations provided by Sean Smith.Full-year historical Major League statistics provided by Pete Palmer and Gary Gillette of Many historical player head shots courtesy of David Davis.

He finished third in the voting for the From 1975-1976, he went 15-15 and 17-11 respectively while making a second All-Star appearance in 1975.Between 1977 and 1979, Niekro was the league leader in complete games, innings pitched and batters faced.

He wa…

Niekro remains the last MLB pitcher to have both won and lost 20 or more games in the same season. They all sit behind home plate. On this day 30 years ago, Twins pitcher Joe Niekro got tossed from a game against the Angels after he was discovered scuffing the ball with an emery board and sandpaper in … He was the only player elected that year; Niekro is a member of the Kiz Toys Board of Advisors.

On August 5, In 1974, Niekro led the league in several pitching categories, including wins (20), complete games (18), and innings pitched (302.1). Bob Uecker. In 1979, the 40-year-old Niekro led the league in both wins (21) and losses (20). We present them here for purely educational purposes.

Born in Martins Ferry, Ohio, Niekro attended Bridgeport High School in Bridgeport, Ohio and attended West Liberty University in West Liberty, West Virginia. He finished sixth in Cy Young Award voting in both 1978 and 1979, and made his third All-Star appearance in 1978, as well as winning three consecutive gold glove awards from 1978-1980.From 1980-1981, he went 15-18 and 7-7 respectively while leading the league in games started (38) and losses (18) in 1980.In 1983, he went 11-10 and won his fifth gold glove. After the season, the Braves released him.

With the 1979 Braves,In 1966, Niekro split time again between the Braves and their minor league system, going 4-3 with a 4.11 Niekro led the league with a 1.87 ERA in 1967, earning an 11-9 record with 10 Before the 1968 season, sportswriter Fred Down described the Braves' pitching staff as "chaotic" and reported that team leadership was planning to use Niekro as both a starter and a reliever in the coming season.In 1970, he went 12-18 with a 4.27 ERA in what turned out to be a down year. I got to meet a lot of important people. All logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. He won the National League (NL) Gold Glove Award five times, was selected for five All-Star teams, and led the league in victories twice and earned run averageonce.

During a 22-year baseball career, he pitched from 1967–1988 for seven different teams, primarily for the Houston As…

Joseph Franklin Niekro (November 7, 1944 – October 27, 2006) was an American Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. Career: 221-204 (78th), 3.59 ERA, 1747 SO, P, AllStar, Astros/Tigers/... 1967-1988, t:R, 1x W Leader, born in OH 1944, died 2006