He really didn't became a fine MLB pitcher til age 34 when he mastered the knuckleball...he was a starter very early in his career but by age 25 he was relegated to a reliever role....he became a spot starter but maily a reliever for the next 6 seasons
He was a very effective pitcher once he found the knuckler while with the Astros from age 32 to age 39....His best years, back to back 20 win seasons at age 34-35.
He was a very effective pitcher once he found the knuckler while with the Astros from age 32 to age 39....His best years, back to back 20 win seasons at age 34-35.
Meant Richard's career ending stroke brought on by congenital arterial issues compared to Niekro's life ending aneurysm..both sad too early exits from ball from Richard and life for Niekro.
True Journey, he was a journeyman until his stint with his brother in Atlanta, where he mastered Phil's pitch, then shined with the Stros in the Astrodome behind that Punch and Judy era Stros team of fielders and gloves.
Jose Cruuuuuuuuuuuuz!!
True Journey, he was a journeyman until his stint with his brother in Atlanta, where he mastered Phil's pitch, then shined with the Stros in the Astrodome behind that Punch and Judy era Stros team of fielders and gloves.
Jose Cruuuuuuuuuuuuz!!
Position: P Born: Nov 7, 1944 Bats: Right Throws: Right
Picked up from the Atlanta Braves for a paltry $35,000, 30-year-old knuckleballer Joe Niekro came to Houston hoping to find some stability for a career that had made Houston his fifth major-league home after just seven seasons. Eleven years later, Niekro had used his elusive knuckler to become the winningest pitcher in franchise history.
Niekro's career included 221 wins, 144 with Houston. He was named the team's Most Valuable Player in 1979, a season in which he won 21 games and finished second in the Cy Young voting. With 20 wins in 1980, he remains the only Astro hurler with back-to-back 20-win seasons. Niekro was traded to the Yankees during the 1975 season for Jim Deshaies, leaving the club ranked #1 or #2 in all-time games pitched, starts, wins, complete games, and shutouts.
A longtime symbol of the Atlanta Braves, Phil Niekro holds many major league records, nearly all of which are as a result of his trademark pitch, the knuckleball, which kept him in the majors until he was 48. Niekro's records tend to center on longevity, durability, and unpredictability, as his reliance on the knuckler saved his arm, fooled batters, and caused catchers to consider a new occupation.
A boyhood pal of basketball Hall of Famer John Havilcek, Phil, and his younger brother Joe, came out of the Ohio River valley for 46 major league seasons. Teammates briefly on the Braves and Yankees, they would eventually combine to pass Gaylord and Jim Perry as baseball's winningest brother act in 1987, finishing with 538.
Along with Niekro's longevity, his loyalty to a floundering Atlanta franchise won him the admiration of fans and players. He contributed greatly to charitable groups in Atlanta and won the 1979 Lou Gehrig Award for his exemplary character. There was little indignation in Atlanta when Phil finally signed with Yankees as a free agent; the consensus was that he deserved an opportunity to pitch for a contending team. Niekro's effectiveness did not falter with age and his undistinguished records reflected the ragged teams behind him more than anything. In his forties Niekro was able to fashion a 17-4 mark with Atlanta in 1982. At age 45, the gray-haired Niekro went 16-8 for the 1984 Yankees.
Niekro's statistics were compiled with little national fanfare. The 300-game winner pitched a total of 1.1 innings in two All-Star games nine years apart and was selected to only three other squads, possibly because All-Star catchers were unfamiliar with his pitch. His two LCS starts, thirteen years apart, produced no wins, and his playing 24 years without a Series appearance represents a major league mark for futility. His most celebrated game came on the final day of the 1985 season at age 46. Relying on everything except his knuckler until the final batter, former teammate Jeff Burroughs, Niekro became the thirteenth pitcher to win 300 games. He seems destined for Cooperstown. The oldest player to regularly play in the majors, Niekro's outstanding character and his ability to master the most difficult pitch will always be recognized.
WC Bias said:
61 is kind of below the average age of death, but not by a whole bunch, average is something on the order of 74 or so, for a USA male.
Glaken ( my age) is more mathematically extreme. I'd hate to be an actuary, or sell life insurance policies, that kind of stuff, but I'd probably be good at it, even W/O a college degree.
I Kinda sorta look at like this :
A USA guy on average dies somewhere around 72 on average. I'd have to examine that furthur, as too more precise definition.
Personally , 80 is about the age I consider to be not worth living beyond, by then you are toast, in a nursing home with a walker that has half tennis balls on the legs,
I'll never be there myself.
I doubt I live to 65, I ain't afraid to die.
.. you won't find me in an old folk's home, old Skynyrd lyric.
I'd take a ride in the space shuttle right now, if I knew there was a 30% chance it crashes.
At 43 ,I'm way over 50% of my life, and closer to 75% of my estimated death age.
I like Worf's philosophy of " Today would be a good day to die ! "
When you do die, there is no heaven or hell, you just cease to exist, as does an ant you happen to tread upon.
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Well I've heard lots of people say They're gonna settle down You don't see their faces And they don't come around Well I'm not that way I got to move along I like to drink and to dance all night Comes to a fix not afraid to fight You got that right Said, you got that right Sure got that right Seems so long I been out on my own Travel light and I'm always alone Guess I was born with a travellin' bone When my times up, I'll hold my own You won't find me in an old folks home You got that right Well you got that right Said, you got that right Sure got that right I tried everything in my life Things I like I try 'em twice You got that right Sure got that right Travellin' around the world, just singing my song I got to go, Lord I can't stay long Here comes that ol' travellin' jones once again I like to drink and to dance all night Comes to a fix not afraid to fight You got that right Said, you got that right Well you got that right Sure got that right</PRE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>(c) 2006 By SingulARtists
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Well I've heard lots of people say They're gonna settle down You don't see their faces And they don't come around Well I'm not that way I got to move along I like to drink and to dance all night Comes to a fix not afraid to fight You got that right Said, you got that right Sure got that right Seems so long I been out on my own Travel light and I'm always alone Guess I was born with a travellin' bone When my times up, I'll hold my own You won't find me in an old folks home You got that right Well you got that right Said, you got that right Sure got that right I tried everything in my life Things I like I try 'em twice You got that right Sure got that right Travellin' around the world, just singing my song I got to go, Lord I can't stay long Here comes that ol' travellin' jones once again I like to drink and to dance all night Comes to a fix not afraid to fight You got that right Said, you got that right Well you got that right Sure got that right</PRE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>(c) 2006 By SingulARtists
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Fat Tony said:
Aug. 3, 1987: Niekro's on the mound in Anaheim, pitching for the Twins against the Angels. He throws a slider that breaks the laws of physics. When plate umpire Tim Tschida visits the mound to have a look, an emery board flies out of Niekro's pocket. Niekro's also carrying a small piece of sandpaper "contoured to fit a finger," according to second-base ump Steve Palermo.
Niekro's ejected and suspended for 10 days. "The guy was so blatant," said Palermo. "It was like a guy walking down the street carrying a bottle of booze during Prohibition." Niekro denied any wrongdoing, arguing that as a knuckleballer, he needed the emery board to file his fingernails. And the sandpaper? "Sometimes I sweat a lot, and the emery board gets wet," he explained. "And I'll also use the paper for small blisters."
Maybe someone will put the video on youtube Jman now that he has passed.
Here is more on the story
BASE102806.NIEKRO
Last update: October 28, 2006 – 12:19 AM
Joe Niekro dies of brain aneurysm
Former major league pitcher Joe Niekro, the Houston Astros' career victory leader, died Friday, Astros president Tal Smith said. He was 61.
The two-time 20-game winner suffered a brain aneurysm Thursday and died at a hospital in Plant City, Fla.
"It came as a real shock to us," Smith said. "He was a great guy. He had a real spark and a great sense of humor."
Niekro, the brother of former pitcher Phil Niekro, pitched for the Twins in the 1987 World Series and gained notoriety earlier in the season for being caught with a file in his pocket during a game.
The New York Yankees traded Niekro to the Twins in June 1987. A month later, on Aug. 3, with the pennant race heating up and the Twins leading the American League West, Niekro was ejected for having a nail file on the mound.
Niekro claimed he had been filing his nails in the dugout and stuck the file in his back pocket when the inning started and had not been doctoring baseballs. The league president didn't believe him and suspended Niekro for 10 days.
Niekro, the father of Giants first baseman Lance Niekro, won 221 games in his career. Joe and Phil Niekro had a combined 359 major league victories, a record for brothers.
STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS ©2006 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.
Here is more on the story
BASE102806.NIEKRO Last update: October 28, 2006 – 12:19 AM
Joe Niekro dies of brain aneurysm
Former major league pitcher Joe Niekro, the Houston Astros' career victory leader, died Friday, Astros president Tal Smith said. He was 61.
The two-time 20-game winner suffered a brain aneurysm Thursday and died at a hospital in Plant City, Fla.
"It came as a real shock to us," Smith said. "He was a great guy. He had a real spark and a great sense of humor."
Niekro, the brother of former pitcher Phil Niekro, pitched for the Twins in the 1987 World Series and gained notoriety earlier in the season for being caught with a file in his pocket during a game.
The New York Yankees traded Niekro to the Twins in June 1987. A month later, on Aug. 3, with the pennant race heating up and the Twins leading the American League West, Niekro was ejected for having a nail file on the mound.
Niekro claimed he had been filing his nails in the dugout and stuck the file in his back pocket when the inning started and had not been doctoring baseballs. The league president didn't believe him and suspended Niekro for 10 days.
Niekro, the father of Giants first baseman Lance Niekro, won 221 games in his career. Joe and Phil Niekro had a combined 359 major league victories, a record for brothers.
STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS ©2006 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.
