The Other Niekro

Name: Joe Niekro

Card Company: Fleer

Year: 1988

Team: Minnesota Twins

Bats/Throws: R

Ht: 6'1

Joe Niekro has the dubious honor of being the younger brother to all-time great pitcher Phil Niekro, and producing one of the biggest bloopers of all-time. But little do people know that Joe Niekro may be the 2nd greatest knuckleball pitcher of all-time. With the knuckleball being the most unpredictable pitch in baseball, it takes great skill to be able to command it for as long as he did. And while he might not be a hall of famer like his older brother, Joe Niekro still has plenty of accolades to his name.

Joe Niekro was originally selected by the Cleveland Indians in the 7th round of the 1966 MLB draft but did not sign. Five months later he was selected by the Chicago Cubs in the second phase of the free agent draft and eventually signed with them. Niekro would impress in his only season in the minors, pitching in only 17 games he compiled a 6-6 record with a 2.08 ERA. He would make the Cubs the 25-man roster out of Spring training the following year though he didn’t crack the rotation right away. Nonetheless he still managed to start 22 games out of his 36 appearances, posting a 10- record with a 3.34 ERA in his rookie season. The next year would see his win total increase from 10 to 14 but his ERA balloon up to 4.31. The next season would see him only appear in 4 games for the Cubs before being traded along with Gary Ross and Frankie Libran to the San Diego Padres for Dick Selma.

Analyzing this trade is a little tricky, because the biggest name in this trade was Niekro but he only played one season for the Padres. He would put up a solid 3.70 ERA in his one season with the Padres, but ran into some bad luck that saw him put up an 8-17 record that year. Gary Ross would spend the next 6 years in San Diego as an average relief pitcher, while Frankie Libran never panned out. Dick Selma in his one season with the Cubs put up similar numbers as Niekro that year just with a better win/loss ratio. So, in the end both teams got one year of decent pitching and the Padres ended up getting an average relief pitcher out of the deal, so I guess they won.

Despite the fact that Niekro was backed up by an offense whose best hitter was Nate Colbert (.255 AVG, 24 HR, 66 RBI’s in 1969), the Padres decided that Niekro was done and traded him to the Detroit Tigers for scraps. Niekro then puddled around in mediocrity pond the next two season with the Tigers, posting a 18-20 record and a 4.21 ERA in that time. He appeared to be on the way to having a nice bounce back year in 1972 before injuries shut him down. He was then waived by the Tigers in the off-season before being claimed of the waiver wire by the Braves in 1973. He would spend the next two years with the Braves, being used primarily as a reliever while his brother Phil was the teams star pitcher. He was then sold to the Houston Astros in 1975 for $35,000, a little bit over a $162K value today.

He would spend his first three seasons in Houston primarily as a reliever before the Astros decided to give him a shot at being a starting pitcher again. From 1978 to early 1985 Niekro would

become a mainstay of the Astros rotation, becoming the Astros all-time win leader along the way. As a member of the Astros Niekro compiled a 144-116 record with a 3.22 ERA all while pitching over 200 innings per year. His best season as a member of the Astros came in 1979 when he posted a career high 21 wins and finished a close 2nd in NL Cy Young voting that year to Bruce Sutter. 1979 would also be the first and only time Joe Niekro managed to make the all-star team, despite the fact that in 1980 Niekro had another 20-win season. 1980 would also be the first time the Houston Astros would make the playoffs, this came after Niekro pitched them to a 7-1 victory in a 1-game playoff vs. the Dodgers.

However, the aging Niekro was 40-years old in 1985, and halfway through the 85’ season Houston would be forced to trade Niekro to the Yankees for Jim Deshaies and two players to be named at a later date. Niekro would go on to have an uninspiring run with the Yanks posting a 14-15 record with a 4.58 ERA before being traded in 1987 to the Twins for Mark Salas a backup catcher.

The good news about being traded to the Twins is that he became a member of a World Series champion in 1987. The bad news is that he produced one of the biggest bloopers of all-time. In that 1987 season in a game vs. the California Angels, Niekro was approached by umpire Tim Tschida and ordered to empty his pockets after accusations of scuffing the ball. Niekro then proceeded to try to and quickly fling an emery board and a piece of sandpaper out of his back pocket only for it to be discovered by the umpires. Niekro says that he was just filing his nails in the dugout but the excuse didn’t work and he was given a 10-game suspension. This is probably the

most memorable part of Niekro’s career and that’s a shame, because cheaters like Gaylord Perry often get a pass for doing the same thing. It’s also a shame that the announcer kept calling Joe Niekro, Phil Niekro during the broadcast. He would return to the Twins in 1988, but after a slow start he was released and quickly retired from baseball.

Niekro finished his career with a career stat-line of (221-204) (3.59 ERA) (1747 SO) (1.38 K/BB Ratio) (3584.1 IP). Sadly, Niekro was taken from us far too soon as he died of a brain aneurysm in 2006, a death that left a great hole in baseball. This led to the formation of the Joe Niekro Foundation, created by his daughter Natalie, which helps raise awareness of Brain Aneurysms, AVMs and Hemorrhagic Strokes. Joe and his brother Phil are the winningest duo of brothers in major league history with a combined win total of 539.

Joe Niekro had to battle his entire MLB career to be taken seriously because of the stigma that surrounds knuckleball pitchers. And in the end his career was a lot like his knuckleball, fun to watch but hard to predict.

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