Phil Niekro
| Phil Niekro | |||
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Niekro signing an autograph in 1982
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| Pitcher | |||
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Born: April 1, 1939 Blaine, Ohio |
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| MLB debut | |||
| April 15, 1964, for the Milwaukee Braves | |||
| Last MLB appearance | |||
| September 27, 1987, for the Atlanta Braves | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Win–loss record | 318–274 | ||
| Earned run average | 3.35 | ||
| Strikeouts | 3,342 | ||
| Teams | |||
| Career highlights and awards | |||
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| Member of the National | |||
 Baseball Hall of Fame
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| Inducted | 1997 | ||
| Vote | 80.34% (fifth ballot) | ||
Philip Henry "Phil" Niekro (born April 1, 1939), nicknamed "Knucksie", is a former Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997. Niekro's 318 career victories are the most by a knuckleball pitcher and he ranks 16th on the overall all-time wins list. He also won the National League (NL) Gold Glove Award five times. Niekro pitched for 20 seasons for the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves. During his tenure in Atlanta, Niekro was selected for five All-Star teams, led the league in victories twice and earned run average once. Niekro was also a key to the only two division titles Atlanta won before 1991.
Phil and his brother Joe Niekro amassed 539 wins between them, the most combined wins by brothers in baseball history. Phil Niekro's 121 career victories after the age of 40 is a major league record, and his longevity is attributed to the knuckleball, which is a difficult pitch to master but is easy on the arm and often baffles hitters due to its unpredictable trajectory. He is also the uncle of former first baseman and pitcher Lance Niekro.
Niekro was the last MLB pitcher to have both won and lost 20 or more games in the same season; with the 1979 Braves, Niekro finished with 21 wins and 20 losses. His third and final 20-win season came in 1979; it was also the second and final year that he lost 20 games. That season, Phil and Joe Niekro were MLB co-leaders in wins.
Niekro was born in Blaine, Ohio and grew up in Martins Ferry, Ohio. He attended Bridgeport High School in Bridgeport, Ohio, and was a boyhood friend of Basketball Hall-of-Famer John Havlicek. The baseball field on which he played at Bridgeport High School's Perkins Field athletic complex was renamed "The Niekro Diamond" in 2008 after both Phil and his brother, Joe. Niekro was the son of a coal miner; his father had pitched semipro baseball and had learned to throw a knuckleball from another coal miner. Phil and his younger brother, fellow major league pitcher Joe Niekro, learned the pitch from their father in their backyard as kids. Phil and his family have continued to support the students of Bridgeport High School with the proceeds from the annual golf tournament "The Niekro Classic". In addition, Phil played American Legion Baseball growing up.
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