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Phil Niekro    \NEE-kro\

Philip Henry Niekro (Knucksie)

Position: Pitcher
Bats: Right, Throws: Right
Height: 6' 1", Weight: 180 lb.

Born: April 1, 1939 in Blaine, OH
High School: Bridgeport HS (Bridgeport, OH)
Signed by the Milwaukee Braves as an amateur free agent in 1958. (All Transactions)
Debut: April 15, 1964 (Age 25)
Teams (by GP): Braves/Yankees/Indians/BlueJays 1964-1987
Agents: Bruce Church [*]
Final Game: September 27, 1987 (Age 48)
Inducted into the Hall of Fame by BBWAA as Player in 1997 (380/473 ballots).
   View Phil Niekro Page at the Baseball Hall of Fame (plaque, photos, videos).
Relatives: Brother of Joe Niekro and Uncle of Lance Niekro
    About biographical information

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Hall of Fame

Standard Fielding

Year Tm Lg Age Pos G GS CG Inn Ch PO A E DP Fld% RF/9 RF/G lgFld% lgRF9 lgRFG SB CS CS% lgCS% PO Awards
1964 MLN NL 25 P 10 0 0 15.0 2 0 2 0 1 1.000 1.20 0.20 .955 2.16 2.13 0 0 0
1965 MLN NL 26 P 41 1 0 74.2 24 6 17 1 2 .958 2.77 0.56 .956 2.09 2.08 3 0 0% 36% 1
1966 ATL NL 27 P 28 0 0 50.1 20 2 18 0 1 1.000 3.58 0.71 .947 1.97 1.96 6 1 14% 40% 2
1967 ATL NL 28 P 46 20 10 207.0 54 10 40 4 4 .926 2.17 1.09 .960 2.00 2.00 21 6 22% 41% 3
1968 ATL NL 29 P 37 34 15 256.2 81 18 59 4 4 .951 2.70 2.08 .958 2.01 2.02 8 5 38% 40% 7
1969 ATL NL 30 P 40 35 21 284.1 78 24 51 3 4 .962 2.37 1.88 .958 1.95 1.94 17 5 23% 40% 4 AS,CYA-2,MVP-9
1970 ATL NL 31 P 34 32 10 229.2 53 14 38 1 4 .981 2.04 1.53 .951 1.85 1.84 25 6 19% 33% 0
1971 ATL NL 32 P 42 36 18 268.2 65 19 44 2 6 .969 2.11 1.50 .954 1.90 1.90 11 7 39% 35% 3
1972 ATL NL 33 P 38 36 17 282.1 70 26 40 4 4 .943 2.10 1.74 .950 1.78 1.78 10 5 33% 37% 2
1973 ATL NL 34 P 42 30 9 245.0 75 30 41 4 4 .947 2.61 1.69 .950 1.88 1.88 26 12 32% 36% 3
1974 ATL NL 35 P 41 39 18 302.1 64 22 42 0 3 1.000 1.91 1.56 .944 1.88 1.88 18 13 42% 33% 1 CYA-3
1975 ATL NL 36 P 39 37 13 275.2 62 21 41 0 2 1.000 2.02 1.59 .946 1.86 1.86 20 14 41% 32% 4 AS
1976 ATL NL 37 P 38 37 10 270.2 62 19 41 2 2 .968 2.00 1.58 .950 1.88 1.87 27 7 21% 33% 1
1977 ATL NL 38 P 44 43 20 330.1 71 20 51 0 5 1.000 1.93 1.61 .950 1.85 1.85 47 32 41% 35% 4
1978 ATL NL 39 P 44 42 22 334.1 84 17 65 2 4 .976 2.21 1.86 .951 1.91 1.89 34 12 26% 32% 4 AS,CYA-6,MVP-17,GG
1979 ATL NL 40 P 44 44 23 342.0 88 31 56 1 3 .989 2.29 1.98 .951 1.80 1.80 40 11 22% 34% 2 CYA-6,MVP-20,GG
1980 ATL NL 41 P 40 38 11 275.0 59 18 40 1 6 .983 1.90 1.45 .952 1.91 1.91 17 13 43% 31% 2 GG
1981 ATL NL 42 P 22 22 3 139.1 32 10 22 0 2 1.000 2.07 1.45 .959 1.97 1.98 16 9 36% 33% 1
1982 ATL NL 43 P 35 35 4 234.1 57 18 38 1 4 .982 2.15 1.60 .952 1.96 1.97 17 16 48% 32% 3 AS,CYA-5,GG
1983 ATL NL 44 P 34 33 2 201.2 44 15 27 2 6 .955 1.87 1.24 .952 1.92 1.91 27 11 29% 33% 2 GG
1984 NYY AL 45 P 32 31 5 215.2 50 13 36 1 4 .980 2.04 1.53 .958 1.79 1.78 9 12 57% 36% 0 AS
1985 NYY AL 46 P 33 33 7 220.0 31 11 20 0 5 1.000 1.27 0.94 .953 1.86 1.84 22 5 19% 33% 1
1986 CLE AL 47 P 34 32 5 210.1 45 9 32 4 2 .911 1.75 1.21 .957 1.83 1.81 13 6 32% 34% 1
1987 TOT MLB 48 P 26 26 2 138.2 30 13 17 0 1 1.000 1.95 1.15 .955 1.84 1.82 12 8 40% 31% 0
1987 TOT AL 48 P 25 25 2 135.2 30 13 17 0 1 1.000 1.99 1.20 .955 1.84 1.82 12 8 40% 31% 0
1987 CLE AL 48 P 22 22 2 123.2 29 12 17 0 1 1.000 2.11 1.32 .955 1.84 1.82 10 7 41% 31% 0
1987 TOR AL 48 P 3 3 0 12.0 1 1 0 0 0 1.000 0.75 0.33 .960 1.88 1.83 2 1 33% 31% 0
1987 ATL NL 48 P 1 1 0 3.0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 0.00 1.80 1.90 0 0 0
24 Seasons P 864 716 245 5404.0 1301 386 878 37 83 .972 2.11 1.46 .953 1.89 1.90 446 216 33% 34% 51
24 Seasons TOT 864 716 245 5404.0 1301 386 878 37 83 .972 2.11 1.46 .953 1.89 1.90 446 216 33% 34% 51
Lg Pos G GS CG Inn Ch PO A E DP Fld% RF/9 RF/G lgFld% lgRF9 lgRFG SB CS CS% lgCS% PO Awards
Note: Fielding stats are a combination of official records and RetroSheet records. Both are likely to have substantial errors and will not match perfectly.
View Complete Notes on Fielding Data
Leagues historically made no effort to balance team, league, and player fielding stats. Since 1990 or so, computers have made this feasible, but prior to that there are hundreds or thousands of discrepancies each year in games played (even whether a player played a position), putouts, assists, double plays and errors.
  • Pre-1945 SB & CS data for catchers is estimated from catcher assists, games started and opposition stolen bases.
  • From 1945 on SB, CS, Pickoff, & WP data for catchers and pitchers is taken from play-by-play accounts in the retrosheet files. There are several hundred games without pbp from 1945 to 1973 and for those we may not have any data.
  • CG & GS come from the retrosheet data and should be complete and pretty accurate from 1916 on.
  • Innings played (like SB and CS) come from the retrosheet play-by-play data and should be considered mostly complete from 1945 to 1973 and complete from then on.
  • Stats (PO,A,G, etc) for LF-CF-RF positions (since 1916) is taken from play-by-play or box score data as available.
  • Stats (PO,A,G,etc) for C,P,1B,2B,3B,SS,OF positions is taken from the official reported totals and may have been corrected at various times since their publication.
  • For detailed information on which games retrosheet is missing play-by-play from 1945 to 1973, please see their most wanted games list
  • For detailed information on the availability of data on this site by year, see our data coverage page

Sabermetric Fielding

Year Tm Lg Age Pos Rtot Rtot/yr Rtz Rtzhm Rtzrd Rdp Rof Rctch Rdrs Rdrs/yr Rpm Rdp Rbnt Rof Rhr RerC RsbC RsbP
1964 MLN NL 25 P
1965 MLN NL 26 P
1966 ATL NL 27 P
1967 ATL NL 28 P
1968 ATL NL 29 P
1969 ATL NL 30 P
1970 ATL NL 31 P
1971 ATL NL 32 P
1972 ATL NL 33 P
1973 ATL NL 34 P
1974 ATL NL 35 P
1975 ATL NL 36 P
1976 ATL NL 37 P
1977 ATL NL 38 P
1978 ATL NL 39 P
1979 ATL NL 40 P
1980 ATL NL 41 P
1981 ATL NL 42 P
1982 ATL NL 43 P
1983 ATL NL 44 P
1984 NYY AL 45 P
1985 NYY AL 46 P
1986 CLE AL 47 P
1987 CLE AL 48 P
1987 TOR AL 48 P
1987 ATL NL 48 P
24 Seasons P
24 Seasons TOT
Lg Pos Rtot Rtot/yr Rtz Rtzhm Rtzrd Rdp Rof Rctch Rdrs Rdrs/yr Rpm Rdp Rbnt Rof Rhr RerC RsbC RsbP

Appearances

Year Tm Lg Age G GS Batting Defense P C 1B 2B 3B SS LF CF RF OF DH PH PR
1964 MLN NL 25 10 0 10 10 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1965 MLN NL 26 42 1 42 41 41 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
1966 ATL NL 27 28 0 28 28 28 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1967 ATL NL 28 46 20 46 46 46 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1968 ATL NL 29 37 34 37 37 37 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1969 ATL NL 30 40 35 40 40 40 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1970 ATL NL 31 34 32 34 34 34 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1971 ATL NL 32 42 36 42 42 42 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1972 ATL NL 33 38 36 38 38 38 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1973 ATL NL 34 42 30 42 42 42 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1974 ATL NL 35 41 39 41 41 41 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1975 ATL NL 36 39 37 39 39 39 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1976 ATL NL 37 38 37 38 38 38 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1977 ATL NL 38 44 43 44 44 44 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1978 ATL NL 39 45 42 45 44 44 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
1979 ATL NL 40 44 44 44 44 44 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1980 ATL NL 41 40 38 40 40 40 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1981 ATL NL 42 22 22 22 22 22 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1982 ATL NL 43 35 35 35 35 35 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1983 ATL NL 44 34 33 34 34 34 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1984 NYY AL 45 32 31 0 32 32 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1985 NYY AL 46 33 33 0 33 33 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1986 CLE AL 47 34 32 0 34 34 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1987 CLE AL 48 22 22 0 22 22 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1987 TOR AL 48 3 3 0 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1987 ATL NL 48 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
24 Seasons 866 716 742 864 864 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
Lg G GS Batting Defense P C 1B 2B 3B SS LF CF RF OF DH PH PR
Appearances table is calculated solely from full RetroSheet play-by-play data available from 1973 on. A combination of RetroSheet (starting with the 1916 season) and non-RetroSheet data is used for other seasons.

Advanced Fielding -- P*

Putouts Assists Errors Double Plays
Year Tm Lg Age PA BIP% GBIP% Fld F2O% FC Tot Cgt 31 Tot 1B 2B Tot Cch Fld Thr ROE Tot 163 GB LD bFld bF2O%
1964 MLN NL 25 58 79% 41% 2 100% 0 0 0 0 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0
1965 MLN NL 26 277 80% 32% 13 92% 0 6 1 5 13 7 3 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 1 4 100%
1966 ATL NL 27 213 88% 42% 15 100% 0 1 0 1 17 12 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 100%
1967 ATL NL 28 793 86% 32% 39 92% 0 9 3 6 37 27 5 4 1 0 3 0 4 4 4 0 4 100%
1968 ATL NL 29 907 86% 34% 51 92% 1 15 2 11 51 34 6 3 0 1 2 0 3 2 3 0 5 100%
1969 ATL NL 30 1103 83% 31% 53 98% 0 22 4 13 51 38 6 3 0 1 2 0 4 2 3 1 12 100%
1970 ATL NL 31 923 79% 29% 37 95% 0 13 1 9 31 24 3 1 0 0 1 0 2 2 2 0 4 100%
1971 ATL NL 32 1098 81% 30% 47 96% 0 19 1 13 45 32 7 2 0 1 1 1 6 4 6 0 10 100%
1972 ATL NL 33 1150 85% 30% 47 96% 0 24 6 15 41 29 7 4 0 0 4 0 4 3 3 1 8 100%
1973 ATL NL 34 1022 84% 30% 46 96% 2 30 3 21 41 32 3 4 0 0 4 0 4 3 3 1 11 91%
1974 ATL NL 35 1219 81% 28% 47 98% 0 22 1 14 42 35 4 0 0 0 0 0 3 2 3 0 8 88%
1975 ATL NL 36 1152 86% 30% 45 98% 0 18 4 10 43 33 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 2 0 7 100%
1976 ATL NL 37 1156 82% 26% 40 100% 1 20 3 12 38 29 4 2 0 0 2 0 2 2 2 0 6 100%
1977 ATL NL 38 1428 78% 24% 63 86% 0 17 1 12 54 40 6 0 0 0 0 0 5 2 5 0 13 92%
1978 ATL NL 39 1389 80% 25% 66 94% 1 16 0 9 65 48 5 2 0 0 2 0 4 1 2 2 13 85%
1979 ATL NL 40 1436 83% 27% 67 93% 1 29 5 18 56 45 7 1 0 1 0 0 3 3 3 0 11 100%
1980 ATL NL 41 1137 81% 28% 46 87% 0 18 2 13 38 26 8 1 0 0 1 0 6 4 6 0 9 100%
1981 ATL NL 42 578 84% 28% 22 95% 0 10 2 6 21 15 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 1 1 4 75%
1982 ATL NL 43 969 82% 28% 36 94% 0 18 1 15 37 24 3 1 0 0 1 0 3 1 3 0 4 100%
1983 ATL NL 44 888 79% 23% 28 86% 1 13 1 11 25 16 4 2 1 0 1 0 4 3 4 0 4 75%
1984 NYY AL 45 916 79% 25% 39 100% 0 13 0 10 38 30 3 1 0 1 0 0 4 3 4 0 4 100%
1985 NYY AL 46 955 76% 24% 22 100% 0 11 2 9 22 14 5 0 0 0 0 0 5 4 4 1 1 100%
1986 CLE AL 47 949 84% 27% 35 86% 0 9 2 7 32 24 1 4 0 4 0 4 3 1 1 2 10 70%
1987 CLE AL 48 561 84% 26% 20 100% 0 11 1 10 20 16 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 2 100%
1987 TOR AL 48 56 84% 21% 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1987 ATL NL 48 20 70% 15% 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
24 Seasons 22353 82% 28% 926 94% 7 365 46 251 860 631 102 35 2 9 24 5 78 51 68 10 155 94%
MLB Averages 81% 28% 91% 87%
Lg PA BIP% GBIP% Fld F2O% FC Tot Cgt 31 Tot 1B 2B Tot Cch Fld Thr ROE Tot 163 GB LD bFld bF2O%



* - Disclaimer & Completeness Note

* Many Detailed Statistics are based on play-by-play accounts accumulated by RetroSheet. These totals may be incomplete (3.6% of all plays from 1945 to 1973 are missing or have incomplete accounts, click link for year and team summary of data completeness) for some players prior to 1974 and even complete seasons may not match the official totals due to errors in both the official totals and the play-by-play accounts. Pre-1954 seasons have a substantial numbers of games missing play-by-play accounts and should be viewed as essentially incomplete.

Appearances on Leader Boards, Awards, and Honors

Stats are Year-Value-Rank · Glossary

Hall of Fame
1993 BBWAA (65.7%)
1994 BBWAA (59.9%)
1995 BBWAA (62.2%)
1996 BBWAA (68.3%)
1997 BBWAA (80.3%)
Selected to HOF in 1997 by BBWAA

All-Star Games
1969 *
1975
1978 *
1982
1984

Awards (yr lg award)
1967 NL pitching_title
1979 ML Lou Gehrig Memorial Award
1980 ML Roberto Clemente Award

MVP (yr lg (rk, shr))
1969 NL (9, 14%)
1978 NL (17, 2%)
1979 NL (20, 3%)
0.19 Career Shares (765th)

Cy Young (yr lg (rk, shr))
1969 NL (2, 4%)
1974 NL (3, 13%)
1978 NL (6, 8%)
1979 NL (6, 3%)
1982 NL (5, 15%)
0.43 Career Shares (112th)

Gold Gloves
1978 NL (P)
1979 NL (P)
1980 NL (P)
1982 NL (P)
1983 NL (P)
All multiple winners

Def. Games as P s c a p y
Career  864 (33rd)

Putouts as P s c a p y
1969 NL  24 (1st)
1972 NL  26 (2nd)
1973 NL  30 (1st)
1974 NL  22 (4th)
1977 NL  20 (4th)
1979 NL  31 (1st)
Career  386 (4th)

Assists as P s c a p y
1968 NL  59 (3rd)
1969 NL  51 (5th)
1971 NL  44 (5th)
1977 NL  51 (4th)
1978 NL  65 (2nd)
1979 NL  56 (2nd)
Career  878 (38th)

Errors Committed as P s c a p y
1967 NL  4 (5th)
1968 NL  4 (5th)
1972 NL  4 (4th)
1986 AL  4 (3rd)

Range Factor/9Inn as P† s c a p y
1968 NL  2.70 (5th)
1969 NL  2.37 (4th)
1973 NL  2.61 (4th)
Career  1.97 (61st)

Range Factor/Game as P s c a p y
1968 NL  2.08 (4th)
1969 NL  1.88 (4th)
1978 NL  1.86 (4th)
1979 NL  1.98 (2nd)

Fielding % as P s c a p y
1974 NL  1.000 (1st)
1975 NL  1.000 (1st)
1977 NL  1.000 (1st)
1980 NL  .983 (4th)
1981 NL  1.000 (1st)
1985 AL  1.000 (1st)
Career  .972 (67th)

Oldest s c a p y
1976 NL  born 1939-04-01 (6th)
1977 NL  born 1939-04-01 (6th)
1978 NL  born 1939-04-01 (7th)
1979 NL  born 1939-04-01 (6th)
1980 NL  born 1939-04-01 (5th)
1981 NL  born 1939-04-01 (3rd)
1982 NL  born 1939-04-01 (3rd)
1983 NL  born 1939-04-01 (2nd)
1984 AL  born 1939-04-01 (1st)
1985 AL  born 1939-04-01 (1st)
1986 AL  born 1939-04-01 (1st)
1987 AL  born 1939-04-01 (1st)
1987 NL  born 1939-04-01 (1st)

                           

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Name and misspellings: Philip Henry Knucksie Phil philip phillip neikro Niekro

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