In 1992, Joe Niekro was inducted in the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame. Former major league pitcher Joe Niekro, Houston's career victory leader, died Friday, Astros president Tal Smith said. He was the younger brother of pitcher Phil Niekro, and the father of Major League pitcher and first baseman Lance Niekro. He was an All-Star in 1979, when he went 21-11 with a 3.00 ERA and followed up with a 20-12 record in 1980. Smith said Niekro did not have an active role with the Astros but kept in contact with many of his former Houston teammates. Niekro's 318 career victories are the most by a knuckleballer and rank 16th on MLB's all-time wins list. Niekro was the seventh member of Cooperstown to die in 2020, following Lou Brock, Whitey Ford, Bob Gibson, Al Kaline, Joe Morgan and Tom Seaver. The uniform might look a bit strange, too. Joe Niekro was one of his coaches. He finished with a career record of 318-274 and a 3.35 ERA. He beat the Dodgers in a one-game playoff that clinched Houston's first postseason berth in 1980. The Houston Astros purchased Niekro's contract from the Braves for $35,000 in 1975. Niekro was born in Martins Ferry, Ohio,[1] and attended Bridgeport High School in Bridgeport, Ohio and West Liberty University in West Liberty, West Virginia. "It came as a real shock to us," Smith said. Joe Niekro has died. Wiki User Answered 2014-08-24 14:52:25. [11] In his three seasons with New York, he went 14–15 with a 4.58 ERA in 188.2 total innings. Niekro, father of San Francisco Giants first baseman Lance Niekro, won 221 games in his career but never became as well known as his Hall of Fame brother, Phil. He had 152 strikeouts and 101 walks (both higher from the year before). He went 4 1/3 innings while giving up five runs on six hits in a 9–4 loss. Phil Niekro, the Hall of Fame knuckleballer who won 318 games in a 24-year career, died in his sleep Saturday night after a battle with cancer, the Atlanta Braves announced Sunday. His complete games pitched dropped from 16 to nine as he also led the league in wild pitches with 14 and faced a career-high 1,113 batters. Little did any of us know that later that month, Joe Niekro would be gone, the victim of a condition that offered little in the way of warning. ", First published on October 28, 2006 / 1:40 AM. "He was very popular with our fans, and he was truly one of our all-time greats. He later was transferred to St. Joseph's Hospital, where he died. Smith said the team was waiting on funeral arrangements before deciding how to honor Niekro. The emery board and a piece of sandpaper flew out of his pocket. His 221 career wins make him one of the most successful knuckleball pitchers of all time. He was selected off waivers by the Atlanta Braves on August 7, 1973. Joe Niekro World Series Stats. As for the cause of his death, Phil Niekro was battling cancer during the last years of his life. We will also look at who is Joe Niekro, how he become famous, Joe Niekro’s girlfriend, who is Joe Niekro dating now, previous dating & relationships […] Career statistics and player information from, This page was last edited on 24 April 2021, at 18:56. While pitching for the Twins earlier in the 1987 season, Niekro was caught ball scuffing. Top Answer. The five-time Gold Glove winner met his demise at the age of 81. [6] He went 9–9 in 24 games pitched with a 2.82 ERA in 166 innings while striking out 77 batters and walking 47. He appeared in Game 2 of the 1981 National League Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, pitching eight scoreless innings, although Joe Sambito ended up being the winning pitcher for the Astros as they won in the 11th inning, though the Dodgers would win the series in five games. 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