In the first year of division play, he helped the Braves win the NL West! Matched up against Seaver in the NLCS opener, he carried a lead into the eighth inning before the Mets erupted for five runs, four of them unearned; they went on to sweep the best-of-five series. All knuckleballs are eerie, if they work, since they seem to transcend natural law. Unlike any other projectile known to man, a properly knuckled ball will change direction suddenly, several times, in different ways and for no apparent reason.
If someone had thrown a knuckleball down out of that tree, and Sir Isaac Newton had seen it coming and dodged it three times and it had hit him on the head anyway, it is frightening to think what we might now believe about the universe. What happens is that when Niekro arches the first two fingers of his right hand so that only their tips and nails touch the ball, he forsakes all humanly imparted spin and consigns his delivery to the diverse air currents between him and the plate.
That is why he has hit so many catchers in the forehead. It is also why some sluggers just take their 0-for-4s and forget about it when they have to face Niekro. Aside from that season, the Braves had been within a few games of. Niekro pitched to a 3. After a fairly successful , 3. Though unhappy about the decision, Niekro held his tongue while totaing just Finally, Mathews now the manager returned him to the rotation, where he allowed just three runs over 19 innings in his next two starts, both complete-game victories.
On August 5, at Fulton County Stadium, Niekro no-hit the Padres, walking three while striking out four and becoming the first Atlanta pitcher to throw such a gem. Cito Gaston , who would later cross paths with Niekro as a teammate in Atlanta and as the hitting coach in Toronto, grounded out for the final out.
He placed third in the NL Cy Young balloting, the only non-Dodger to crack the top four in a year where reliever Mike Marshall won via his monster From , he averaged innings, strikeouts, a 3. From , Niekro threw a jaw-dropping total of His strikeouts led the league in , the only year he would do that. His As he had before Cox was hired, he offered himself up as a player-manager candidate, but Braves owner Ted Turner rebuffed him, instead tabbing Torre.
The team jumped out to a start under the new regime, but the year-old Niekro missed it by landing on the disabled list for the first time in his career due to rib and ankle injuries. Thanks to a league-best 5. Niekro started the opener and was leading with two outs in the fifth inning when rain delayed the game.
After two hours and 20 minutes, umpires decided conditions were unplayable, and under the rules at the time, that meant the proceedings to that point were wiped out today it would be resumed as a suspended game.
The Cardinals pounded Pascual Perez in the makeup Game 1. On a related note, the knuckleball is essentially extinct. The website Fangraphs, which tracks every pitch, counted only three pitchers who threw the knuckleball in Erik Kratz, Todd Frazier and Bryan Holaday, position players moonlighting as pitchers at the end of blowouts.
This also revealed some of his pitches to hitters, because they can see his hand. His longevity is attributed to his knuckleball, which is a difficult pitch to master but is easy on the arm and often baffles hitters due to its unpredictable trajectory. He went through plenty of them in 24 seasons, , 21 of those with the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves.
Bruce Benedict caught him at the end. Niekro was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Niekro and his younger brother Joe amassed wins between them, the most combined wins by brothers in baseball history. On Aug. He also has the highest career earnings in MLB history. Louis Brown Stockings.
According to Screw Ball Times, they suggest that throwing a screwball is no different than throwing another type of pitch.
Fans and players can make their assumption if the pitch hurts their arm, but the mechanics make the pitch feel weird when you throw it, which may or may not lead to injuries. By the end of , his final season, Niekro ranked 10th among major leaguers in number of seasons played. No pitcher since the dead ball era spent more time on a major league mound.
His knuckleball led him to five All-Star selections, three win seasons for the Atlanta Braves, the win club, and ultimately, to Cooperstown. He always represented his sport extraordinarily well, and he will be deeply missed. On behalf of Major League Baseball, I extend my condolences to Phil's family, friends and the many fans he earned throughout his life in our National Pastime.
Our hearts go out to Nancy Niekro, the kids and grandkids. So thankful for our memories and time together. We'll miss you, Knucksie.
The symbol of both the success and longevity of Niekro's career was the knuckleball, that whimsical floater that baffles not only hitters and catchers but also the pitchers who never really know how the rotationless pitch will dance toward the plate.
Niekro was the king of the knuckleballers, ranking first in victories and strikeouts 3, Tom Candiotti, a notable knuckler in his time and a teammate of Niekro's with the Cleveland Indians , said that talking to Knucksie was "like talking to Thomas Edison about light bulbs. If staying in the majors could be owed to the knuckler, the same factor might also explain Niekro's initial difficulty in reaching the big leagues. Perplexed catchers and managers wary of passed balls and wild pitches were reasons often cited for Niekro's extended stay in the Braves' minor league system.
Signed in , he didn't break through for good for nearly a decade. Yet the knuckler was all Niekro had, all he believed in. First called up by Milwaukee in , Niekro seesawed between the majors and minors, a pitcher struggling to find a niche and willing catchers.
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