Wow, another HOF great passes in 2020.
RIP Knucksie.
For those of you that haven't heard this story, several close friends of Phil Niekro told him that he couldn't win without his signature pitch, the knuckleball.
Or could he?
On October 6, 1985 Phil Niekro took the mound in Toronto, attempting to collect his 300th career win.
Knucksie decided to prove his naysayers wrong and pitched 8 2/3 innings of shutout ball without once throwing his knuckleball.
For the final out, he finally broke out the knuckler and got his 300th career win, which was his ticket into Cooperstown.
NYY defeated TOR 8-0 with Niekro pitching a 4-hit shutout. Yeah, Knucksie could pitch a little...
HOF Phil Niekro also pitched a 9-0 no-hitter against the SD Padres on August 5th, 1973 @ ATL.
After his MLB career was over, Niekro managed the Colorado Silver Bullets baseball team. The Silver Bullets were an all-girl team and, believe me, they could play.
During the 1990's I had a chance to catch one of their games in So Cal against a ML minor league team and they certainly held their own.