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Phil Niekro
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Birthdate: 4/1/1939
Height / Weight: 6' 1" / 180 lbs.
Place of Birth: Blaine, OH, USA
Bats / Throws: R / R

Baseball Historian Biography

1975 Topps Gum Card

 
Phil Niekro was master of the fluttering knuckle ball and Grand Daddy of the pitchers. Phil started pitching in the majors at age 25 and pitched until he was 48 years old. Niekro won over 300 games in his great career.

In 1967, Phil Niekro led the National League in ERA with an outstanding 1.87. In 1969, he won 23 games and helped the Atlanta Braves win their first ever NL West Crown. Niekro was one of baseballs' top control pitchers as noted by his strikeouts to walks ratio; in 1969, he struck out 193 would be hitters and walked only 57.

August 5, 1973, Phil Niekro hurled a no-hitter vs. the San Diego Padres. He won 20 games in 1974; starting 39 and completed 18 of them including six shutouts, and his' opponents batting average was .225. In 1979, he was 21-20 and led the league for the second year in a row in both complete games (23) and in innings pitched (342).

Phil Niekro was a top fielding pitcher and won Glove Gloves Awards in 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982 & 1983.

He is 3rd on the all-time list for the most career shutout losses (with 49); meaning he lost the game when the opposing pitcher hurled a shutout. Hall of Famers Walter Johnson and Nolan Ryan are the leaders in shutout losses. All three pitched on some poor playing teams for most of their careers.

Phil Niekro's career total : 318-274, pct .537, pitched 45 shutouts and had an ERA of 3.35, OBA .247. Niekro seemed to pitch forever and his lifetime total of 5404 innings pitched and 24 years of pitching service bares this fact out.

 



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Pitching Statistics
Year Team G GS W L SV CG SHO IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO WP HBP BK ERA
1964 MLN (NL) 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 15.0 15 10 8 1 7 0 8 1 1 0 4.80
1965 MLN (NL) 41 1 2 3 6 0 0 74.2 73 32 24 5 26 3 49 9 3 0 2.89
1966 ATL (NL) 28 0 4 3 2 0 0 50.1 48 32 23 4 23 5 17 3 2 0 4.11
1967 ATL (NL) 46 20 11 9 9 10 1 207.0 164 64 43 9 55 3 129 19 7 1 1.87
1968 ATL (NL) 37 34 14 12 2 15 5 257.0 228 83 74 16 45 3 140 16 5 3 2.59
1969 ATL (NL) 40 35 23 13 1 21 4 284.1 235 93 81 21 57 7 193 15 5 0 2.56
1970 ATL (NL) 34 32 12 18 0 10 3 229.2 222 124 109 40 68 2 168 6 6 2 4.27
1971 ATL (NL) 42 36 15 14 2 18 4 268.2 248 112 89 27 70 6 173 8 3 1 2.98
1972 ATL (NL) 38 36 16 12 0 17 1 282.1 254 112 96 22 53 3 164 10 5 3 3.06
1973 ATL (NL) 42 30 13 10 4 9 1 245.0 214 103 90 21 89 4 131 11 5 0 3.31
1974 ATL (NL) 41 39 20 13 1 18 6 302.1 249 91 80 19 88 3 195 6 6 4 2.38
1975 ATL (NL) 39 37 15 15 0 13 1 275.2 285 115 98 29 72 3 144 15 11 2 3.20
1976 ATL (NL) 38 37 17 11 0 10 2 270.2 249 116 99 18 101 7 173 14 8 4 3.29
1977 ATL (NL) 44 43 16 20 0 20 2 330.1 315 166 148 26 164 12 262 17 8 3 4.03
1978 ATL (NL) 44 42 19 18 1 22 4 334.1 295 129 107 16 102 5 248 11 13 3 2.88
1979 ATL (NL) 44 44 21 20 0 23 1 342.0 311 160 129 41 113 8 208 18 11 4 3.39
1980 ATL (NL) 40 38 15 18 1 11 3 275.0 256 119 111 30 85 3 176 9 3 1 3.63
1981 ATL (NL) 22 22 7 7 0 3 3 139.1 120 56 48 6 56 2 62 2 1 0 3.10
1982 ATL (NL) 35 35 17 4 0 4 2 234.1 225 106 94 23 73 1 144 4 3 1 3.61
1983 ATL (NL) 34 33 11 10 0 2 0 201.2 212 94 89 18 105 3 128 6 2 3 3.97
1984 NYY (AL) 32 31 16 8 0 5 1 215.2 219 85 74 15 76 0 136 2 3 0 3.09
1985 NYY (AL) 33 33 16 12 0 7 1 220.0 203 110 100 29 120 1 149 5 2 2 4.09
1986 CLE (AL) 34 32 11 11 0 5 0 210.1 241 126 101 24 95 1 81 9 6 2 4.32
1987 ATL (NL) 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 3.0 6 5 5 0 6 0 0 0 0 0 15.00
1987 CLE (AL) 22 22 7 11 0 2 0 123.2 142 83 81 18 53 1 57 9 4 2 5.89
1987 TOR (AL) 3 3 0 2 0 0 0 12.0 15 11 11 4 7 0 7 1 0 1 8.25
26 years   864 716 318 274 29 245 45 5404.1 5044 2337 2012 482 1809 86 3342 226 123 42 3.35
Batting Statistics
Year Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS IBB HBP SH SF AVG OBP SLG
1964 MLN (NL) 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .0 .0 SLG
1965 MLN (NL) 42 10 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 .100 .100 SLG
1966 ATL (NL) 28 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 0 3 0 .0 .0 SLG
1967 ATL (NL) 46 57 4 7 2 0 0 2 1 16 0 0 0 2 6 0 .123 .167 SLG
1968 ATL (NL) 37 77 3 8 1 0 2 7 0 22 0 0 0 0 18 0 .104 .104 SLG
1969 ATL (NL) 40 95 11 20 4 0 0 7 2 21 0 0 0 0 9 0 .211 .227 SLG
1970 ATL (NL) 34 79 5 12 0 0 1 3 2 17 0 0 0 0 6 1 .152 .171 SLG
1971 ATL (NL) 42 92 3 14 1 0 0 4 0 20 0 0 0 1 7 1 .152 .160 SLG
1972 ATL (NL) 38 93 7 18 1 0 1 4 1 22 0 0 0 2 11 1 .194 .216 SLG
1973 ATL (NL) 42 82 3 10 4 0 1 2 1 26 0 0 0 1 7 0 .122 .143 SLG
1974 ATL (NL) 41 104 5 20 2 0 0 11 3 18 0 0 0 1 9 1 .192 .220 SLG
1975 ATL (NL) 39 99 5 17 2 1 0 10 1 18 0 0 0 0 4 2 .172 .176 SLG
1976 ATL (NL) 38 94 5 18 3 0 1 12 0 8 0 1 0 1 9 1 .191 .198 SLG
1977 ATL (NL) 44 109 2 19 1 0 0 7 0 15 0 0 0 1 12 1 .174 .180 SLG
1978 ATL (NL) 45 120 5 27 4 0 0 10 3 25 0 0 0 1 4 1 .225 .248 SLG
1979 ATL (NL) 44 123 10 24 6 0 0 12 1 19 0 0 0 2 7 1 .195 .213 SLG
1980 ATL (NL) 40 90 2 12 5 0 0 5 1 19 0 0 0 0 5 0 .133 .143 SLG
1981 ATL (NL) 22 52 1 4 0 0 0 1 0 11 0 0 0 0 3 0 .77 .77 SLG
1982 ATL (NL) 35 87 6 17 4 0 1 7 0 16 0 0 0 0 3 1 .195 .193 SLG
1983 ATL (NL) 34 65 3 12 2 0 0 5 1 12 0 0 0 0 6 1 .185 .194 SLG
1984 NYY (AL) 32 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .0 .0 SLG
1985 NYY (AL) 33 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .0 .0 SLG
1986 CLE (AL) 34 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .0 .0 SLG
1987 ATL (NL) 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .0 .0 SLG
1987 TOR (AL) 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .0 .0 SLG
1987 CLE (AL) 22 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .0 .0 SLG
26 years   866 1537 80 260 42 1 7 109 17 314 0 1 0 12 129 12 .169 .183 .SLG



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