ATLANTA — Phil Niekro threw a pitch that baffled hitters and catchers.
Heck, he didn’t even know where it was going most of the time.
But the knuckleball carried Niekro to more than 300 wins, earned him a spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame and left him with a nickname that stuck for the rest of his life.
Knucksie.
The longtime stalwart of the Atlanta Braves rotation died after a long fight with cancer, the team announced Sunday. He was 81.
The Braves said Niekro died Saturday night in his sleep. He lived in the Atlanta suburb of Flowery Branch, where a main thoroughfare bears his name.