2020 can just go away.

It was announced this morning that Baseball Hall of Fame Pitcher, Phil Niekro, passed away last night at the age of 81.  This makes him the seventh Hall of Fame inductee to pass away this year following the deaths of Lou Brock, Whitey Ford, Bob Gibson, Al Kaline, Joe Morgan and Tom Seaver.

The master of the knuckleball debuted in 1964 as a member of the Milwaukee Braves.  Three years later, he was a permanent fixture of the Braves rotation, winning the ERA Title in 1967 (1.87) and going to his first All-Star Game in 1969.  Niekro was second in Cy Young voting that year, and would be third in 1973.

Niekro’s knuckleball allowed him to stay a productive player well into the 70s and early 80s.  Playing with Atlanta until 1983, he had three more top-ten Cy Young finishes, and appeared in three more All-Star Games. Niekro was also a five-time Gold Glove winner with the Braves.

Released by Atlanta, Niekro signed with the New York Yankees, and defied age where at 45 years old, he went to his fifth All-Star Game.  Niekro played until 1987, finishing with Cleveland, Toronto and one final game in Atlanta.  He left the Majors with an overall record of 318-274 with 3,342 Strikeouts.

The Baseball Hall of Fame would induct Niekro in 1997, his fifth year on the ballot.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to extend our condolences to the friends, fans and family of Phil Niekro.

Phil Niekro played an incredible 24 seasons in the Major Leagues, 20 of which took place in a Braves uniform, and seemingly no matter how old he was (and how old he looked), he defied Father Time much longer than any Pitcher had the right to.

The secret to his success was the knuckleball, a pitch that is hard to master but does not take as much toll on your arm.  Niekro would debut in 1964 and found himself a permanent fixture on the Atlanta rotation in 1967, the season in which he won the ERA Title, and he would break out in 1969 with a 23 Win season and a second-place finish in Cy Young voting. 

The 1970s would prove to be very good for the knuckleballer as he would have three more seasons of top-ten Cy Young voting, two seasons where he was the National League leader in Wins, yet it also included a strange stretch, 1977-80 where he would finish first in Losses, but was also first in Innings Pitched in the first three of those years.  Basically, Niekro was really good but had limited support during this period, as, bluntly, the Braves were not very good!  Still, Niekro persevered, and he had another All-Star season in 1982.  The Braves thought Niekro was done after 1983, and they released him, but he went on to play four more seasons, including a final start for the Braves in 1987.

Overall, Niekro would win 268 games, go to four All-Star Games, and win five Gold Gloves for the Braves.

Phil Niekro was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997, and two years later, he was part of the first Braves Hall of Fame Class.  Atlanta also retired his number 35 in 1984.