Phil Niekro: The Greatest Knuckleballer Of All Time
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.พ. 2025
- Phil Niekro first debuted in the majors in 1964 and he got there thanks to his knuckleball, and after his breakthrough 1967 season, it would become clear that no one could throw the pitch better than him. He would go on to have plenty of Cy Young worthy seasons pitching for the Braves for 19 seasons before he would sign with The Yankees where he would pick up his 300th win before also going to the Indians and Blue Jays and finishing with The Braves. The oldest regular when he retired at 48, he would go on to make the hall of fame and throw the most innings for any post dead ball era pitcher.
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I'm a lifelong resident of Atlanta and I can tell you that Atlanta absolutely adored him.
I learned how to throw a knuckleball from seeing Phil Niekro on the tv show The Baseball Bunch (hosted by Johnny Bench) I started using it in little league and had a couple of good games. Too bad my coaches knew absolutely nothing about coaching.
I can relate. I threw a decent knuckler when I was in Little League.
And my coach was an idiot.
Neikro, please.
this vid was absolutely awesome! thank you so much.
Growing up a Braves fan Phil and Dale Murphy was the only bright spot in the 80s
Slight nod to Bob Horner, and that decade did see the Ron Gant arrival, the Smoltz trade with Detroit, drafting of Glavine. And without that horrid ending to the decade, that horrible 1990 would not have handed us Chipper Jones with that 1 pick in 91. And for some odd reason I loved Gerald Perry.
Murphy my favorite player a sad day when he got traded to Philly
No love for Gene Garber or, the best name in baseball, Biff Pocaroba?
@@solitaryman777 I always thought Biff Pocaroba should have become a game show host. He certainly had the name for it.
If I recall correctly, when he pitched for his 300th win on the last start of the season, the Blue Jays had clinched the division the day before and everyone was pretty hungover. Still, a dubya izza dubya.
The very first knuckleball in this video has me cackling! Batter thinks it's gonna hit him, catcher misses and it hits him square in the chest. I love this pitch
The Orioles had a player my dad told me about named Hoyt Wilhelm, he said his knuckler was nasty.
Phil Niekro is the only person to win 300 games who didn't have 200 wins on his 40th birthday. Yes, he won more than 100 games in his 40's!
Won 300 games with the worst spin rate of all time. So much for modern analytics.
I remember Knucksey showing how to throw the knuckle ball in the early 80s. I wasn't a pitcher, but as a young teen at the time, I'd try the knuckle ball during pregame warmups, remembering how crazy it was watching the ball as if it had a mind of it's own moving erratically lol.
Good reporting but error regarding pitcher to win 20 while losing 20 in the same season- Wilbur Wood was 24-20 for the 1973 Chicago White Sox.
Wilbur Wood was a left-handed pitcher for the Chicago White Sox. One Sunday he started both ends of a double-header. As I recollect he went 1-1 on that day.
Phil Niekro,Wilbur Wood Tim Wakefield, Charlie Hough & R.A. Dickey are in my top five favorite list.
Another banger
Remember Niekro when he played for the Atlanta Braves along with Hoyt Wilhelmina who also pitched the knuckleball. I grew up across the street from Wilbur Wood who pitched for the Chicago White Sox.Pitch of choice the knuckle ball
Old Phil threw the best spit knuckle pitch ever, no argument
I was fishing and pulled up to a dock on Lanier it was his home a few days later I heard about him passing he was a nice guy
Thanks for this profile of Phil Niekro. Of course I remember him. Your video underscores how he pitched for weak teams and was often under the radar in terms of how he was perceived.
We talk about the knuckleball extending careers due to less stress on the arm - yet it's evident the pitch is hard to learn and impossible to master.
Oftentimes, longevity is discounted in rating the accomplishments of the greats; still, guys like Niekro, Ryan, Moyer, and Wakefield were blessed to have long careers - and it does us well to give God credit for allowing such careers.
I know Joe Niekro was flagged for cheating with the Astros - was it an emery board? Still, I'm glad the brothers got to pitch together on the Braves and Yankees. What wasn't mentioned was the Niekro brothers later managed a female baseball team, "The Silver Bullets" - sponsored by Coors Brewing.
You also didn't mention that MLB permitted an oversized catcher's mitt for handling knucklers. Good video!
If he had pitched for better teams when he was in his prime, he might have had a shot at 400 wins. 350 for sure.
Wakefield was the best . Niekro and his brother threw spitballs.
Among starting pitchers Phil Niekro was the best but if you include relief pitchers I would go with Hoyt Wilhelm.
Eddie Rommel, Eddie Cicotte & Hoyt Wilhelm. Great knuckleballers.
I always thought Jamie Moyer should have picked up the knuckler toward the end of his career, to extend it a few years.
@@cucinare-da-zero he already extended himself . He had nothing left when he retired
How was Hoyt Wilhelm? He preceded them , is an hall of famer , and taught his pitch to others who became knucklers
His WAR is more than 14 points higher than Nolan Ryan's and they were nearly exact contemporaries who pitched a nearly identical number of innings.
One thing he does not have that RA Dickey has is a Cy Young.
Hoyt Wilhelm’s knuckleball wasn’t half bad either.
He's 48, but looks 84!
What about charlie hough
Charlie was the man!
There's a story of Pete Rose sitting the bench when niekro pitched
Hoyt Wilhelm. Period.
I would argue Tim Wakefield was the best knuckleball pitcher. He help the Red Sox rest their bullpen in 2004 by pitching the majority of game 3 in the ALCS. The team won the next 4 games. He is the unsung hero of that series. RIP Tim Wakefield.
I will, on my life, seek out and fight anyone who says Tim Wakefield isn’t the most beloved knuckleballer of all time. But he isn’t a HOFer like Phil Niekro. May he and Stacey rest in peace, and may their children and family find peace.
You know what I love most about baseball? The fact that people can argue over these kinds of details. lol
I dunno man. I love Wake, but there’s no way he’s the best knuckler in a world where the Niekros, Candiotti, Hough, and Wilhelm exist
Agree. As a Red Sox fan he was my favorite, but let’s face it, the numbers show Wilhelm amd Niekro were better. He was about even with Hough for third.
@@Copiumaximus I’d say wake was 4th best, just behind Hough and just ahead of Candiotti.
White.sox.wilber.wood.was.the.best.he.won.20.or.more.3.times.and.he.did.it.3.stright
Times😂❤😊
Yep. So long as you can ignore Hall of Famer, Hoyt Wilhelm.
Hoyght Wilhelm was throwing knuckle balls before any of the pitchers you named.
..pitched little league, through HS, never could throw over 85 MPH….years later and to this day, (50),my biggest regret is not focusing , solely , on the knuckleball from birth, ha..who knows, maybe could have had a career…
What’s with the photo either Olivia Newton John?
0:06 You just might have used the worse quality video clip of all time
Not hard with an emery board in the back pocket 😅
That was his brother
@DemonKingBadger they both probably did it, only one got caught. 😂
@@Scott-n5j possible, though a knuckleballer would have a legit reason to carry that being that finger nails are important to their pitch. But, no way to know the exact truth at this point.
@@Scott-n5j "probably" isn't evidence
What he say
It really sounds like you're saying his last name like the league Josh Gibson played in. Lol
LOL.....My dad had a thick Louisiana cajun accent and since Houston was only 130 miles away we were all Astros fans and would catch a lot of the games on TV. And Phil Niekro's younger brother, Joe was a knuckleball pitcher for the Astros for quite a few years. I remember my dad saying "Dat Joe Negro looks like he just tosses the ball up there but nobody can hit it." And it's true. Joe wasn't the pitcher Phil was, but he was pretty dog gone good anyway. Most people in other regions of the country have never heard a cajun accent, but we were all proud when they'd interview Ron Guidry when he was with the Yankees because he sounded so much like a lot of us in south Louisiana and even southeast Texas.
In my younger years I played "industrial " league softball.
One of my by teammates could throw a knuckle ball.
It looked like an optical illusion.
Thanks Joe Brewer for good times.😊
slow down man and stop reading from the encyclopedia
NO ONE CARES
y u like this man
Your mom did last night 😂🎉
You do tho , you care enough to spend the energy to make the comment that no one cares. You also still care enough to be reading this reply. I also care, hence this message I have just left here for you, ya reject!
❤phil niekro my hero