Hall of Famer Niekro, 81, dies after long cancer fight
Baseball Hall of Famer Phil Niekro, who pitched well into his 40s with a knuckleball that baffled big league hitters for more than two decades, mostly with the Atlanta Braves, 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.
Niekro won 318 games over his 24year career, which ended in 1987 at age 48 after he made one final start with the Braves.
Known for a pitch that befuddled hitters and catchers — heck, Niekro didn’t even know where it was going — the right-hander was a five-time All-Star who had three 20-win seasons with Atlanta.
Niekro also pitched for the New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians and Toronto Blue Jays late in his career. Incredibly, he had 121 wins after his 40th birthday.
“We are heartbroken on the passing of our treasured friend,” the Braves said in a statement. “Knucksie was woven into the Braves fabric, first in Milwaukee and then in Atlanta. Phil baffled batters on the field and later was always the first to join in our community activities. It was during those community and fan activities where he would communicate with fans as if they were long lost friends.”
A statue of Niekro delivering his trademark pitch is located outside of Truist Park, the Braves’ stadium.
Niekro was the seventh member of Cooperstown to die in 2020, following Lou Brock, Whitey Ford, Bob Gibson, Al Kaline, Joe Morgan and Tom Seaver. It is the most Hall of Famers to die in a calendar year, according to spokesman Jon Shestakofsky.
Niekro didn’t make it to the big leagues until 1964, when he pitched 10 games in relief for the then-Milwaukee Braves. He made only one start over his first three years in the big leagues but finally blossomed as a starter in 1967 — the Braves’ second year in Atlanta — when he went 11-9 and led the National League with a 1.87 ERA.
With a fluttering knuckleball that required catchers to wear an oversized mitt, Niekro went 23-13 as the Braves won the first NL West title in 1969.
He also had 20-win seasons in 1974 and 1979, despite pitching for a team that fell on hard times after its appearance in the inaugural NL Championship Series, where the Braves were swept in three games by New York’s Amazin’ Mets.
Niekro also led the league in losses for four straight seasons, losing 20 games in both 1977 and ’79.
He finished with a career record of 318-274 and a 3.35 ERA. Niekro was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997.
Awards
OSAKA VOTED AP’S TOP FEMALE ATHLETE >> With tennis, like so much of the
world, shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic, Naomi Osaka found herself with time to read and think.
And while she won the U.S. Open for her third Grand Slam title, she also stood out for speaking out about racial injustice and police brutality.
As noteworthy in 2020 for her activism away from the tennis court as her success on it, Osaka was selected by The Associated Press as the Female Athlete of the Year in results revealed Sunday after a vote by AP member sports editors and AP beat writers.
“It was difficult to be isolated from my family for large parts of the year, but that’s nothing compared to others. It was sad to watch and read the news of people suffering from COVID-19, and the economic and social effect on so many — losing jobs, mental health. It was such a tough year for so many people,” Osaka wrote in an email interview. “And then watching the police injustices like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Jacob Blake (to name just a few) in the summer broke my heart. I am proud of my U.S. Open victory, but more so that I got people talking about the real issues.”
Osaka collected 18 of 35 first-place votes and a total of 71 points.
WNBA Finals MVP Breanna Stewart was next with nine first-place votes and 60 points, followed by Sarah Fuller, the Vanderbilt soccer player who kicked for the school’s football team, with one first-place vote and 24 points.
Osaka went 16-3 during the coronavirus-truncated tennis calendar — the professional tours took about a five-month hiatus; Wimbledon was canceled for the first time since 1945 — and ended the year ranked No. 3.
College sports
MUSIC BOWL CANCELED >> The Music City Bowl between Missouri and Iowa was canceled because COVID-19 issues left the Tigers unable to play. VILLANOVA BASKETBALL PAUSED >> Villanova basketball coach Jay Wright tested positive for COVID-19, and the program is pausing all team activities.
Miscellany
WEIR AMONG 3 ELECTED TO FIGURE SKATING HALL >> Three- time U. S. champion Johnny Weir was elected to the U. S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame. Also elected to the Class of 2021 are Sandy Schwomeyer Lamb and Gale Tanger.
Due to the COVD-19 pandemic, their inductions will be postponed until the 2022 U. S. Figure Skating Championships in Nashville.
Weir, currently NBC’s lead analyst along with 1998 Olympic champion Tara Lipinski, is a two-time Olympian who wound up sixth in the 2010 games. He won a 2008 world championships bronze medal. His national titles came in 2004- 06.
Lamb was the first female president of the Professional Skaters Association. Lamb developed the Special Olympics Skating Program in 1985 and served as its longtime skating director.
Tanger has served as a figure skating judge and official for more than 50 years. She is a three-time PSA Official of the Year. She has served at six Olympic Games.
AUSTRALIAN OPEN NEWS >> Roger Federer is withdrawing from the Australian Open while he continues preparing to return to action after two operations on his right knee.
Also, five-time Australian Open finalist Andy Murray was given a wild- card entry into the first Grand Slam tournament of next year. Former top-ranked Murray has slipped to No. 122 in the ATP rankings after several years of battling hip injuries and surgery.