Joe Niekro

Joe Niekro
Pitcher
Born: November 7th, 1944 Martins Ferry , United States
Died on: October 27, 2006 Tampa , United States
Suggested: Right	Threw: Right
Debut in Major League Baseball
April 16,  1967  with the  Chicago Cubs
Last MLB assignment
April 29,  1988  for the  Minnesota Twins
MLB statistics (until end of career)
Win-loss	221-204
Earned Run Average	3.59
Strikeouts	1,747
Teams
Chicago Cubs (1967-1969) San Diego Padres (1969) Detroit Tigers (1970-1972) Atlanta Braves (1973–1974) Houston Astros (1975–1985) New York Yankees (1985-1987) Minnesota Twins (1987–1988)
Awards
All-Star (1979) World Series Winner ( 1987 ) Pitcher with the most wins in the NL (1979)

Joseph Franklin "Joe" Niekro (born November 7, 1944 in Martins Ferry , Ohio , † October 27, 2006 in Tampa , Florida ) was an American baseball player in Major League Baseball .

Joe Niekro is one of the most successful pitchers in Major League history with 221 wins in 22 years as a professional , mainly working with knuckleball . In 1979 he was a member of the National League All-Star Team . His older brother Phil Niekro was also an excellent knuckleball player.

In 1987 Niekro unintentionally caused one of the funniest faux pas in MLB history when a suspicious referee asked him to empty his pockets. Niekro threw up his hands "indignantly" when he stupidly fell out of a nail file and a piece of sandpaper , which he was illegally using to sand the baseball. He was banned for 10 games and later parodied his mishap on the show Late Night With David Letterman .

His stations as a player

• 1967-1969 Chicago Cubs
• 1969             San Diego Padres
• 1970–1972 Detroit Tigers
• 1973–1974 Atlanta Braves
• 1975–1985 Houston Astros
• 1985-1987 New York Yankees
• 1987-1988 Minnesota Twins

Web links

• Player information and statistics from Baseball Reference  or  Fangraphs  or  The Baseball Cube (English)
• Biography of Joe Niekro (English)