One of baseball greatest bargains
of all time… one half of the Niekro brothers the all time winningest siblings
of all time.... Known as a knuckleballer but not always was the case.... started
in Cubs uniform going 10-8, then 14-8 in his first two years....relied on
fastball and change up....traded early in 1969 to the expansionist
Padres....took it on the chin with a 8-17 record with the poorest run support
in the league....on the bright side lowered his ERA....traded to Detroit
1970.....went 12-13.....1971 starts a road of diminishing effectiveness and
work load...briefly sent to minors in 1972 and spends most of 1973 there.....picked
up on waivers by the Braves....despite have Phil on the roster, continued with
trouble sustaining MLB work..... despite returning seriously to the knuckler
that his father taught him sold to Astros for 35K....144 wins were awarded to
Houston for their investiment....in dollar and cents that comes out $243 per
win....enter the Houston Astros....success was not immediate.....two years of
passable relief....returns to full time starting 1977....responded with 13 wins
then 14 in 1978.....real success comes with back to back 20 win seasons....not
done played 5 ¾ seasons.....caught on with Yankees and Twins when full
effectiveness was lost...but ever resourceful for an edge was caught flipping
an emery board on field when umpires asked search is pockets....expectedly was suspended
from baseball for 10 days, but used his time by surprising showed up on David
Letterman’s show sporting a tool belt complete with power sander....diagnosed suffered
a brain aneurysm and passed away in 2006....lived
to see son Lance play for most of his career.
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