# RIP Phil Niekro (MLB pitcher)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-phil-niekro-mlb-pitcher/929029>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Tags:** celebrity-death, baseball-mlb\
**Created:** [December 27, 2020, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-phil-niekro-mlb-pitcher/929029 "2020-12-27T17:50:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2020, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-phil-niekro-mlb-pitcher/929029/21 "2020-12-29T16:47:14Z")

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> [@Southern\_Yankee](#):
>
> I was coming in to mention the emery board incident, but then remembered that was Joe.

Joe appeared on David Letterman’s show just after the emery board incident, and was poking fun at the whole thing, as he showed Dave some of the other things that he said he was also carrying in his pocket, such as a rotary grinder. 😃

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**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2020, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-phil-niekro-mlb-pitcher/929029/22 "2020-12-29T22:27:01Z")

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Career WAR among pitchers who never won a Cy Young Award but pitched all or most of their careers when the CYA existed:

Phil Niekro - 97.0  
Bert Blyleven - 96.1  
Nolan Ryan - 83.6  
Mike Mussina - 82.8  
Curt Schilling - 80.5  
Don Sutton - 68.3  
Kevin Brown - 68.2  
Rick Reuschel - 68.1  
Luis Tiant - 65.6  
Tommy John - 62.1  
Juan Marichal - 61.8  
Andy Pettite - 60.7

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**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2021, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-phil-niekro-mlb-pitcher/929029/23 "2021-01-03T00:01:53Z")

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I believe it was Tommy Lasorda who said, “You don’t want a knuckleballer pitching for you. Or against you.”

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2021, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-phil-niekro-mlb-pitcher/929029/24 "2021-01-03T00:03:58Z")

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Uecker said the way to catch a knuckleball was to “Wait 'til it stops rolling and pick it up.”

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