Atlanta Braves icon Phil Niekro, the master of the knuckleball who was enshrined in Cooperstown in 1997, died overnight, the Baseball Hall of Fame said Sunday. He was 81.
Niekro retired with 318 victories over 5,404 innings, the fourth-most all-time and the most of any pitcher who started his career in the live ball era. He learned the unpredictable knuckleball from his father while a young boy in Ohio in the 1940s and 1950s. After signing with the Braves in 1958 he resisted the pitch until he was told by a minor league manager “throw the knuckler or go home,” per the Baseball Hall of Fame.