Lest we forget: Phil Niekro

Will this year ever end?

We lost yet another baseball great: Phil Niekro, the ageless knuckleballer, died December 26 at the age of 81.

Here’s the obituary from The New York Times by Richard Goldstein, as well as an appreciation by Tyler Kepner.

And here’s one from the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Niekro had a record of 318-274 and probably would have been better with a more successful Braves team, for whom he pitched 21 out of his 24 seasons (and never appeared in a World Series). He and Joe Niekro hold the record for wins by brothers with 539, besting Gaylord and Jim Perry by ten. Joe passed away in 2006 at the age of 61.

 You could put together an All-Star team from all the ballplayers who passed away during 2020. Here’s one take, with the dates of their passings:

• 1B: Dick Allen (Dec. 7)
• 2B: Joe Morgan (HOF, Oct. 11)
• SS: Tony Fernandez (Feb. 16)
• 3B: Denis Menke (Dec. 1)
• OF: Lou Brock (HOF, Sep. 6)
• OF: Al Kaline (HOF, April 6, most ASG appearances with 18)
• OF: Jim Wynn (March 23)
• C: Biff Pocoroba (May 24)
• SP: Phil Niekro (HOF, Dec. 27)
• SP: Tom Seaver (HOF, Aug. 31)
• SP: White Ford (HOF, Oct. 8)
• SP: Bob Gibson (HOF, Oct. 2)
• SP: Mike McCormick (June 13)
• SP/RP: Johnny Antonelli (Feb. 28)
• RP: Ron Perranoski (Oct. 2)
• RP: Lindy McDaniel (Nov. 14)
• Bench: Bob Watson (May 14), Jay Johnstone (Sept. 26), Frank Bolling (July 11), Glenn Beckert (April 12), Tony Taylor (July 16), Claudell Washington (June 10)

Books by and about Niekro include:

• Knuckler: The Phil Niekro Story, by Wilfred Binette
• Knuckle Balls, by Niekro and Tom Bird
• The Niekro Files: The Uncensored Letters of Baseball’s Most Notorious Brothers, by Joe and Phil Niekro with Ken Pickling.

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