Rich Talks Sports

For many years, Braves fans would fill the stands to watch Phil Niekro throw his knuckle ball. He lived and died by this pitched. It earned him the nickname “Knucksie”. As a Brave, it brought him a record of 268-230 and as a Major League pitcher, he had a total record of 318-274. That in itself is very impressive to me as I have seen his fast ball and the term “non-existent” does not even cover it.

Phil had a brother name Joe who was a mainstay in the Astros organization. He also won 221 games as a knuckle baller. The combination of 539 wins makes them the most successful brother combination in all of the Majors. They also combined to make history in 1976. On May 29th, Joe Niekro took his brother deep to hit his first and only home run in his Major League career. Joe went on to the “field of dreams” on October 27, 2006. He was the second player of the Minnesota Twins’ 1987 World Championship team that had died. The first was Kirby Puckett.

Lance was born in 1979 and got his first taste of the majors in 2003. However, this Niekro was not a pitcher. He actually started out playing 3rd base, but due to an injury, he would be moved to first base where he would split time with J.T. Snow. When the Giants did not see eye to eye with Snow, they shipped him out and gave Niekro his first full time shot. That was in 2005 and ever since that point, he has been on the rollercoaster ride back and forth between the Majors and Minors.

Being an offensive player did not stop this kid from learning the knuckle ball. Heck, with a father and an Uncle that has the Niekro name, I would image that this kid’s dog can throw the knuckle ball. Well, thanks to the knuckle ball, Lance is going to get another chance to prove that he belongs in the majors. This time he will be heading to the Braves organization to learn how to be a pitcher with the hopes of one day falling in the steps of his great father and uncle.

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