#35 PHIL NIEKRO
Right-handed Pitcher
What came before: Niekro's long, slow road to the major was well-documented, until he finally found a comfort zone with the elusive knuckleball as a starting pitcher. The Braves did not give him a chance to prove his worth in a rotation until the 1964 season, when he made 21 starts for Class AAA Denver and went 11-5.
He stuck in the majors for a full season in '65 (41 games, 2.89 ERA), but as a releiver; he made his first major league start late in 1965 and came away with a win over a Giants lineup that included Mays, McCovey and Cepeda. It took a year for that seed to bear fruit, however, as he remained in the bullpen the following season.
That 1966 season: It was the final season before the Knucksie we all knew and loved. Working strictly as a releiver, he posted a 4-3 record with two saves and a 4.11 ERA in 50 major league innings. Finding someone to catch his still-developing knuckleball was a concern, leading to the off-season trade that brought Bob Uecker back to the Braves. But had only three wild pitches – a number that would escalate to a league-leading 19 the following season.
What happened next: Niekro made it clear he was someone special in 1967 when he won his only ERA title with a dazzlng 1.87 mark; the Braves made the midseason decision to put him in the rotation.
Old Man River, he just kept rolling along. When the Braves finally gave up on him, at age 44, he would go on to make another 122 starts and 50 more major league wins – including No. 300, sadly, as a member of the Yankees. He won a total of 268 games for the Braves, including 20 wins twice, and was an all-star four times with the Braves, once with the Yankees.
He led the league in starts times, innings pitched three times and losses, four times.
Phil was the last active member of the Milwaukee Braves, the last active player born in the 1930s, the last pitcher to both win and lose 20 games in the same season, the last pitcher to start as many as 41 games in a year, and the last pitcher to throw over 300 innings in a single season. At the end of the 1987 season, the Braves signed him to make one final start at home before he eased into retirement at the age of 48.
He managed Atlanta's AAA Richmond team in 1991. Phil was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997, and his #35 has been retired by the Braves. He lives off of Lake Lanier and remains an active member of the organization.
