December 30, 2020
Of the thousands of pitchers who have reached the majors, fewer than a hundred mastered the knuckleball that maddeningly erratic, spin-free butterfly well enough to rely upon it as their primary pitch. None of them succeeded to the extent that Phil Niekro did. “Knucksie” learned the pitch from his father, a coal miner and semiprofessional hurler, at the age of eight, and while he didn’t establish himself as a big league starter for another 20 years, he carved out a 24-year-career in the majors, winning 318 games, striking out 3,342 batters, starting more games than all but four pitchers, and earning a spot in the Hall of Fame.
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Phil Niekro, the man, was in many ways the opposite of the signature pitch that made him one of baseball’s legendary hurlers over a 24-year Hall of Fame career. His knuckleball was as unpredictable a pitch as any in the game’s history, leaving baffled hitters’ attempts at connecting utterly futile.
But ask anyone who knew Niekro, and they’ll tell you: He was as steady, reliable and easy to connect with as they come.
When Niekro passed away at the age of 81 on Saturday, the baseball world lost not only one of its greatest pitchers, but also one of its greatest ambassadors. Since 2009, Niekro had served as a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum’s Board of Directors, and no Hall of Famer was more immersed in Cooperstown than he was.
The following article is part of Jay Jaffe’s ongoing look at the candidates on the BBWAA 2021 Hall of Fame ballot. Originally written for the 2013 election at SI.com, it has been updated to reflect recent voting results as well as additional research. For a detailed introduction to this year’s ballot, and other candidates in the series, use the tool above; an introduction to JAWS can be found here. For a tentative schedule, and a chance to fill out a Hall of Fame ballot for our crowdsourcing project, see here. All WAR figures refer to the Baseball-Reference version unless otherwise indicated.