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62-578: Niekro is the surname of several people, most notably a family of American baseball players, all of whom have played in Major League Baseball: Phil Niekro (1939–2020), pitcher; member of the Baseball Hall of Fame and older brother of: Joe Niekro (1944–2006), pitcher; also father of: Lance Niekro (born 1979), first baseman [REDACTED] Surname list This page lists people with

124-564: A White Sox –Braves World Series, as the cities are only about 75 miles (120 km) apart along the west shore of Lake Michigan . However, it was not to be. Though consistently behind both the Braves and Giants all season, the Dodgers won the league title with two straight wins against the Braves, ending the Braves' pennant streak at two. The Dodgers would go on to defeat the White Sox in six games in

186-533: A 23–13 season with a 2.56 ERA, finishing second in the National League Cy Young award balloting to Tom Seaver . The Braves went to the playoffs , where Niekro was 0–1 with four earned runs allowed in an eight-inning appearance against the New York Mets . Niekro's playoff loss came against Seaver. The team was eliminated from the playoffs after losing the next two games. In 1970, he went 12–18 with

248-550: A 3–2 lead. However, the Cardinals scored two late runs after Niekro left the game and would eventually sweep the series. In 1983, he went 11–10 and won his fifth Gold Glove Award. After the season, the Braves released him. In 1984, Niekro signed a two-year contract with the New York Yankees . He won 16 games in 1984 and made his fifth and final All-Star appearance. On October 6, 1985, Niekro earned his 300th career win with

310-468: A 4.27 ERA in what turned out to be a down year. He surrendered a league-leading 40 home runs that year, a feat he would not repeat until 1979. From 1971 to 1973, he combined for a record of 44–36. The Braves finished 3rd, 4th, and 5th in their division. On August 5, 1973, Niekro threw a no-hitter against the San Diego Padres , the first for the Braves since moving to Atlanta. In 1974, Niekro led

372-414: A 9-game win streak put the team only 3½ games behind the eventual World Series winning New York Giants by August 15. The team finished the season 89–65 (.578) and 8 games behind. The 1955 team saw even less success than the previous season under new general manager John Quinn and new manager Charlie Grimm . By May 28, the team was 10½ games behind, and would never be closer than 10 games behind for

434-612: A combined 1,226 home runs as Braves, with 850 of those coming while the franchise was in Milwaukee), while Warren Spahn , Lew Burdette , and Bob Buhl anchored the rotation. In the inaugural season of the Braves in Milwaukee, the team found success early on. For the latter half of May and most of June, the Braves held a narrow lead in the National League. By the June 15 trade deadline, the team

496-406: A corn muffin; it was said to be Niekro's favorite sandwich. Niekro and his family supported the students of Bridgeport High School with the proceeds from an annual golf tournament called "The Niekro Classic". Niekro and his wife, Nancy, had three sons: Philip, John, and Michael. On December 26, 2020, Niekro died in his sleep at age 81. He had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and had battled

558-475: A favorable stadium deal. For the first two years, the team would pay only $ 1,000 a year for the use of Milwaukee County Stadium. For the next three years, the team would pay 5% of ticket prices and concessions. After that, the rent would be negotiated afresh, with the Braves being required to open their books. Milwaukee went wild over the Braves, who were welcomed as genuine heroes. The Braves finished 92–62 (.597) in their first season in Milwaukee, and drew

620-705: A relief pitcher. While he was briefly promoted to the Class AAA Louisville Colonels in 1960, he spent the rest of that season pitching for the Jacksonville Braves . He spent the next season with the Class AA Austin Senators . He returned to Louisville in 1962 and had a 9–6 record. He missed the 1963 season due to military service. Niekro debuted with the Milwaukee Braves in 1964 , working 15 major league innings and spending time with

682-515: A shutout win over the Toronto Blue Jays . At 46 years, 188 days, Niekro became the oldest pitcher to pitch a shutout in the major leagues. This record stood for nearly 25 years before Jamie Moyer (47 years, 170 days) bested the feat in May 2010. He did not throw his trademark knuckleball throughout the game until the final hitter; to former AL MVP Jeff Burroughs . Niekro struck Burroughs out to end

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744-465: A then-NL record 1.8 million fans. The success of the team was noted by many owners. Not coincidentally, the Philadelphia Athletics , St. Louis Browns , Brooklyn Dodgers , and New York Giants all relocated over the next five years. As the 1950s progressed, the reinvigorated Braves became increasingly competitive. Sluggers Eddie Mathews and Hank Aaron drove the offense (they would hit

806-546: Is different from Wikidata All set index articles Phil Niekro Philip Henry Niekro ( / ˈ n iː k r oʊ / NEE -kroh ; April 1, 1939 – December 26, 2020), nicknamed " Knucksie ", was an American baseball pitcher who played 24 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves , Cleveland Indians , New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays . Niekro

868-506: Is generally regarded as the greatest knuckleball pitcher of all time. During his career, Niekro was selected to five All-Star teams, led the National League in victories twice (in 1974 and 1979), led the major leagues in earned run average once (in 1967), and won the National League Gold Glove Award five times. As of 2024, Niekro ranks 16th on MLB's all-time wins list with 318 career victories; as of 2024, he

930-598: Is the only knuckleballer to win 300 or more major league games. Niekro and his younger brother Joe amassed 539 wins between them; as of 2013, the Niekros had the most combined wins by brothers in baseball history. As of 2023, Niekro also holds the major league record with 121 career victories after the age of 40. Niekro was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997. Niekro was born in Blaine, Ohio , and grew up in Lansing, Ohio ,

992-658: The Green Bay Packers of the National Football League . The minor league Milwaukee Brewers were scheduled to begin play at the start of the 1953 season. However, in the first move of a Major League team in half a century, on March 18, 1953, the National League approved owner Lou Perini's move of the Boston Braves to Milwaukee 8–0 because of his "fine standing" with the other owners and also because there

1054-593: The International League . The Braves had bought the Crackers in order to secure the major-league rights to the Atlanta area; in those days, the owner of a minor-league team also owned the major league rights to that city. The Braves completed the move to Atlanta prior to the 1966 season, and drew over 1.5 million in the new stadium that first year. Before that season, they moved the Crackers to Richmond, Virginia as

1116-592: The Kansas City Athletics (who moved to Oakland in 1968 ), Allen courted the Braves, who announced their intention to move to Atlanta for the 1965 season. However, an injunction filed in Wisconsin forced the Braves to play a lame-duck season in Milwaukee, but the home attendance was less than 560,000. In the interim, Atlanta Stadium played host to the Braves' new Triple-A affiliate, the Atlanta Crackers of

1178-470: The Richmond Braves . Following the team's departure from Milwaukee after the 1965 season, the city was quickly considered for expansion, as stated by Commissioner of Baseball William Eckert in May 1966, citing that expansion would occur in "eight to 10 years." However, by 1968, Milwaukee was rejected for expansion due to its close proximity to Chicago . As early as June 1969, an MLB memo envisaged

1240-507: The St. Louis Cardinals , they choked the season and finished at 92–62 (.597) , 1 game behind the Dodgers, who finished at 93–61 (.604) . The first half of the 1957 season saw the Braves in-and-out of first place, mostly between them and the Cincinnati Redlegs and St. Louis Cardinals . August 7 saw the Braves take the first place in the National League, a lead they would hold for the rest of

1302-522: The Toronto Blue Jays for Darryl Landrum and a player to be named later , who was later revealed to be Don Gordon . After going 0–2 in three starts, the Blue Jays released Niekro. On September 23, 1987, Niekro signed again with his old team, the Atlanta Braves. On September 27, he made his final start of his career, pitching three innings and surrendering five runs in the no-decision. The Braves lost

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1364-522: The World Series winning Pittsburgh Pirates . Two players threw no-hitters against the Philadelphia Phillies : Lew Burdette on August 18 and Warren Spahn on September 16. Milwaukee's home attendance slipped under 1.5 million for the first time since the move from Boston. The 1961 season saw the Braves hover around fourth and fifth for most of the season. After the June 15 trade deadline,

1426-505: The World Series . The Braves finished their season at 86–70 (.551) . The next six years were up-and-down for the Braves. The Braves were somewhat mediocre as the 1960s began but fattened up on the expansion New York Mets and Houston Colt .45s (now the American League Astros) starting in 1962. The 1960 season under new manager Chuck Dressen saw the Braves somewhat fall of from the previous season, but for vast majority of

1488-408: The surname Niekro . If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name (s) to the link. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Niekro&oldid=996647076 " Category : Surnames Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description

1550-520: The Braves clinging to a one-game lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers , Niekro beat the San Diego Padres almost single-handedly by throwing a complete game shutout and hitting a two-run home run. Niekro started Game One of the subsequent 1982 National League Championship Series against the St. Louis Cardinals and pitched well, but the game was called on account of rain just before it became official. He pitched six innings of Game 2 and left with

1612-400: The Braves from moving to Atlanta for the 1965 season, attendance plummeted to 555,000. The team saw the Braves perform slightly worse than the previous season. However, in the months of June and August, the team was largely in second place behind the Los Angeles Dodgers by only a few games, having led the National League only on August 18 and 20 by only ½ games ahead. Outside these months,

1674-427: The Braves in Milwaukee saw less success than the previous season. Though the team went on a 10-game win streak towards the end of May, they only led the National League for the last week of May, at most 1½ games ahead. Following a losing record in June, the team never recovered, and dropped to 15½ games behind on July 14 and 21. The team would remain in third place for almost the entirety of the remaining season, even when

1736-471: The Braves to a 68–40 (.630) record for the rest of the season, leading for the majority of the season. For the second half of July, all of August, and most of September, the Braves held a small lead in the National League, in a tight race with the Brooklyn Dodgers and Cincinnati Redlegs . Going into the last series of the season, the Braves held a ½ game lead over the Dodgers. In losing the series 1–2 to

1798-582: The Braves would be consistently between 6 and 14½ games behind, eventually finishing the season in fourth place, at 83–71 (.539) , 10 games behind the Cincinnati Reds . Warren Spahn threw his 300th career victory on August 11 and threw his second no-hitter, this time against the San Francisco Giants on April 28. After the game on September 2, manager Chuck Dressen was replaced by Birdie Tebbetts . The team's home attendance continued its decline;

1860-528: The Yankees stormed back to take the last three games, the last two in Milwaukee, in large part to World Series MVP Bob Turley , the winning pitcher in games five and seven. The 1959 season, under new general manager John McHale , saw a tight three-way race between the Braves, Los Angeles Dodgers , San Francisco Giants for the pennant race. The Braves led the National League in May and June, whereas in July and August,

1922-469: The collar and down the middle of shirt. Red script "Braves" was across the chest with navy trim. At various times, there was piping around each sleeve. Piping on the uniform could be red or navy depending on the year. Road uniforms were the same format, but on a gray shirt. The Braves have retired four numbers in the history of the franchise related to its tenure in Milwaukee. Of the four Milwaukee Braves whose numbers have been retired, all who are eligible for

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1984-497: The disease for some time. Italics denotes active player Milwaukee Braves (1953%E2%80%9365) The Milwaukee Braves had an overall win–loss record of 1,146–890–8 (.563) during their 13 years in Milwaukee. Three former Milwaukee Braves players were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame . Construction began on Milwaukee County Stadium in 1950 in hopes of both luring a Major League baseball team, as well as

2046-419: The fast-growing city of Atlanta , led by Mayor Ivan Allen, Jr. , constructed a new $ 18 million, 52,007–60,606 seat multi-purpose stadium in less than one year, Atlanta Stadium (later on known as Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium from 1976 until 1996 with its demolition in 1997), which was officially opened in 1965 in hopes of luring an existing major league and/or NFL / AFL team. After the city failed to lure

2108-424: The game against the San Francisco Giants 15–6. Niekro retired at the end of the season. At the age of 48, Niekro was the oldest player in major league history to play regularly until Julio Franco played at age 49 in 2007. He set a major league record by playing 24 seasons in the major leagues without a World Series appearance. His total of 5,404 + 1 ⁄ 3 innings pitched is the most by any pitcher in

2170-572: The game. He finished the 1985 season with a 16–12 record, the final time he won 15 or more games in a single season. He was released by the Yankees before the 1986 season started. After two seasons in New York, Niekro pitched for the Cleveland Indians in 1986. He went 11–11 with a 4.32 ERA. He started the 1987 season with the Indians, going 7–11 in 26 starts. On August 9, 1987, Niekro was traded to

2232-478: The last season exceeding one million was in 1961. The 1962 season saw the Braves consistently in sixth place from mid-May through mid-September. Before July 22, the team had a negative record, though after this date would have a positive record for the remainder of the season. The team finished the season in fifth at 86–76 (.531) , 15½ games behind the San Francisco Giants . Hank Aaron his Milwaukee career high 45 home runs. Attendance fell off significantly below

2294-472: The league in both wins (21) and losses (20). 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 to 1980. Phil and Joe Niekro were NL co-leaders in wins in 1979; the two brothers each earned 21 wins that year. As of 2013, he remains the last MLB pitcher to win and lose 20 games in

2356-417: The league in several pitching categories, including wins (20), complete games (18), and innings pitched (302.1). He finished third in the voting for the Cy Young Award that year. From 1975 to 1976, he went 15–15 and 17–11 and made a second All-Star appearance in 1975. Between 1977 and 1979, Niekro was the league leader in complete games, innings pitched and batters faced. In 1979, the 40-year-old Niekro led

2418-432: The most Hall of Fame votes out of all the players in the ballot, but had not received the required 75% of the vote for election. After the end of his professional baseball career, Niekro managed the all-women Colorado Silver Bullets baseball team. Niekro taught his nephew Lance Niekro to throw a knuckleball after Lance's unsuccessful stints as a power-hitting first base prospect with the San Francisco Giants . Niekro

2480-561: The newly founded Seattle Pilots of the American League moving to Milwaukee. Concerns for the Pilots' viability led to several attempts to relocate the team to Milwaukee, which lead to Pilots owner Dewey Soriano to try and sell the team. Following failed attempts to sell to former Braves minority owner Bud Selig and several deals involving Westin Hotels head Eddie Carlson , and bankruptcy of

2542-423: The newly relocated San Francisco Giants . The Braves would secure first place for the rest of the season from July 30, finishing the season 92–62 (.597) , 8 games ahead, securing their second consecutive National League pennant. In the World Series , the Braves jumped out to a three games to one lead in against New York once more, thanks in part to the strength of Warren Spahn 's and Lew Burdette 's pitching. But

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2604-514: The only season that the Milwaukee Braves finished " second division ", having placed in the lower half of the league. Hank Aaron hit 44 home runs and notched 130 RBI, and Warren Spahn was once again the ace of the staff. There was a slight uptick in attendance, though still below 800,000. The 1964 season saw the Braves slightly improve from the previous season. By the All-Star break, the team

2666-409: The post-1920 live-ball era . A sidearm pitcher, his pitching featured the knuckleball, which frustrated major league hitters. Ralph Kiner compared Niekro's special pitch to "watching Mario Andretti park a car". Pete Rose said, "I work for three weeks to get my swing down pat and Phil messes it up in one night... Trying to hit that thing is a miserable way to make a living." Catcher Bob Uecker

2728-432: The previous season, falling below 800,000. The 1963 season was the first under the ownership of William Bartholomay and new manager Bobby Bragan . The Braves performed slightly worse than the previous season. After the All-Star break, the Braves were consistently between 7 and 16 games behind, finishing the season in sixth at 84–78 (.519) , 15 games behind the World Series winning Los Angeles Dodgers . This would be

2790-493: The regular season, then went on to its first World Series win in over 40 years, defeating the New York Yankees of Yogi Berra , Mickey Mantle , and Whitey Ford in seven games. Burdette, the Series MVP , threw three complete game victories, giving up only two earned runs, including the seventh game in New York, a 5–0 shutout. The first half of the 1958 season saw the Braves in-and-out of first place, mostly between them and

2852-461: The remainder of the season, even though they held second place in the National League from July 7 until the season's end, trailing the eventual World Series winning Brooklyn Dodgers . The team finished the season 85–69 (.552) and 13½ games behind. Under opening day manager Charlie Grimm , the Braves got off to a mediocre start at 24–22 (.522) . After a loss on Saturday, June 16, the owners dismissed him and replaced him with Fred Haney , who led

2914-407: The same season. The 1979 season was Niekro's third and final 20-win season and his second and final 20-loss season. In 1980 and 1981, he went 15–18 and 7–7 while leading the league in games started (38) and losses (18) in 1980. In 1982, at the age of 43, Niekro led the Braves with a 17–4 season while winning his fourth Gold Glove Award and appearing in his fourth All-Star game. On October 1, with

2976-459: The season, finishing at 95–59 (.617) . The team celebrated their first pennant in nine years. Spearheaded by Hank Aaron's MVP season , he led the National League in home runs and RBI. Perhaps the most memorable of his 44 round-trippers that season came on September 23, a two-run walk-off home run that gave the Braves a 4–2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals and clinched the league championship. The team drew over 2.2 million at home during

3038-544: The season, the team would place in second or third, always within 8 games behind. The closest the team was to leading was on July 24, when they were at 52–36 (.591) and 0 games ahead of the Pittsburgh Pirates , though were ahead by percentage (the Pirates were at 53–37 (.589) ). From August 6 on, the Braves were consistently between 5 and 8 games behind and finished the season in second place at 88–66 (.571) , 7 games behind

3100-484: The son of Henrietta (Klinkoski) and Philip Niekro. He was of Polish descent. He attended Bridgeport High School in Bridgeport, Ohio , and was a boyhood friend of Basketball Hall-of-Famer John Havlicek . The baseball field where he played at Bridgeport High School's Perkins Field athletic complex was renamed "The Niekro Diamond" in 2008 after Phil and his brother, fellow major league pitcher Joe Niekro . The brothers were

3162-423: The sons of a coal miner who had pitched semi-pro baseball and learned to throw a knuckleball from another coal miner. He taught the boys the pitch in the backyard. In addition, Phil played American Legion Baseball . Niekro signed with the Milwaukee Braves in 1959 for $ 250 (equivalent to $ 2,613 in 2023). He pitched for several minor league teams at several levels for the next few years, appearing mostly as

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3224-457: The team hovered at its worst, 4½ games behind. The three-way race continued into the last week of September, when the Giants fell off (having led in July and August). By the season's end, both the Braves and Dodgers were tied at 86–68 (.558) , resulting in a regular season best-of-three tie-breaker series to determine the winner of the pennant. Many residents of Chicago and Milwaukee were hoping for

3286-399: The team hovered between fourth and fifth place. The Braves finished the season in fifth at 86–76 (.531) , 11 games behind the World Series winning Dodgers. Lou Perini sold the Braves to a Chicago -based group led by William Bartholomay after the 1962 season. The ink had barely dried on the deal when Bartholomay started shopping the Braves to a larger television market. At the same time,

3348-598: The team on March 31—seven days before Opening Day—the team was sold to Selig and the team was moved to Milwaukee as the Milwaukee Brewers . The National League's 32-year hiatus from the city would end in 1998 when the Brewers were transferred to the National League due to realignment resulting from the 1998 Major League Baseball expansion . When the team moved to Milwaukee, their uniforms were largely unchanged. The home uniforms were plain white with thin piping going around

3410-434: The team's class AAA minor league affiliate. He stayed with the major league team all year in 1965, pitching 74 + 2 ⁄ 3 innings in 41 games and recording six saves . In 1966, Niekro split time again between the Braves and their minor league system, going 4–3 with a 4.11 earned run average (ERA). Niekro led the league with a 1.87 ERA in 1967, earning an 11–9 record with 10 complete games and 9 saves. He began

3472-489: The year as a relief pitcher but had earned a job in the starting rotation during the season. 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. He appeared in 37 games, finishing with a 14–12 record and 15 complete games. He appeared in relief three times, earning two saves. In 1969, his first All-Star season, he had

3534-446: Was 37–18 (.673) and 0 games behind the Brooklyn Dodgers , who were only ahead by percentage points, with a record of 36–17 (.679) . Their widest lead was on June 23 and 24, 3 games over the Dodgers, though the team would quickly lose their lead just 3 days later and never recovered. The Dodgers went on to outperform the rest of the league as the Braves finished in second, at 92–62 (.597) and 13 games behind. The sophomore season of

3596-472: Was 2 games under .500, in seventh place. For the remainder of the season, the Braves were consistently between 5 and 14½ games behind while consistently in fifth or sixth place. The Braves finished the season in fifth at 88–74 (.543) , 5 games behind the World Series winning St. Louis Cardinals . Despite the consistently lower performance to the previous two seasons, attendance saw a large uptick to over 900,000. After an injunction filed in Wisconsin, blocked

3658-680: Was a member of the board of directors for Kiz Toys, a toy company based out of Cumming, Georgia , and Niekro advised the company on the KizSport baseball line, reviewing product designs and development. The Gwinnett Stripers —the AAA affiliate of the Atlanta Braves—play their home games at Coolray Field . Coolray Field has a restaurant, Niekro's, that is named after Niekro. It features the Knucksie Sandwich, made with barbecue pork and cole slaw atop

3720-408: Was also frustrated by the pitch at times, saying, "Niekro struck out a hitter once and I never touched the ball. It hit me in the shinguard, bounced out to Clete Boyer at third base and he threw out the runner at first. Talk about a weird assist: 2–5–3 on a strikeout." Uecker also said humorously of the pitch, "The way to catch a knuckleball is to wait until it stops rolling and pick it up." Niekro

3782-451: Was an open city for his minor league team then in Milwaukee. The minor league Brewers moved to Toledo, Ohio , and changed their name to the Mudhens . The full AP quote about fine standing: "Warren Giles, National League president, repeated again and again that 'Perini's fine standing with the other club owners was the most important reason for their approval.'" Milwaukee County gave the Braves

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3844-501: Was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1997, his fifth year of eligibility. He was the only player elected that year; Tony Pérez and Don Sutton were among the notable eligible players who were not elected that year. After he was notified, Niekro said, "Giving a description of today's phone call is impossible. I've been stunned before. I just didn't prepare myself this year. I was not going to get myself so high." The year before, Niekro had received

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