Texas Common Sense: Rest In Peace Knucksie

Joe Neikro passed away yesterday at the age of 61. He was one of my first sports heroes, and I am saddened by his passing.

Joe Neikro or Knucksie as his teammates and fans called him was the ultimate guy next door baseball player. He was not blessed with a cannon for an arm like Nolan Ryan, or Steve Carlton, he was just a guy who got by in the Majors with hard work and an out pitch that not only drove hitters crazy but umps and his own catcher. Joe had mastered the knuckle ball and it was that pitch that allowed him to become the Houston Astros go to pitcher for almost 8 years. He compiled a record of 144-116 as an Astro and an overall record of 221-204 for his career. He and his brother Phil are the winningest brother combination in Baseball history. Joe is also know as the first player to have gotten caught "Doctering" the baseball, when at 44 he was caught with an nail file in his back pocket while pitching for the Twins. He was suspended for 10 games because of that.

Several comments about Joe from former teammates and friends

"In my opinion," said Alan Ashby, who was a catcher for Niekro for much of
his career in Houston, "he was the heart and soul of the pitching staffs of
those teams in the 1970s and '80s. This was a complete shock to hear about Joe.
He was way too young and way too full of life."
"Obviously, Knucksie (Niekro) was an accomplished pitcher, but he was a super guy, everybody loved him," Smith said. "(Niekro) had a great sense of humor and was the life of the party," Tal Smith said. "He always had a quip or a needle and had the talent of keeping people loose. I truly never heard anything disparaging about Joe. If you didn't like him, you didn't like people.
"He was, really, in many ways the ultimate ballplayer," said Dierker, who was a teammate of Niekro's in 1975-76. "He seemed to fit into the baseball life better than just about anyone I knew. Plus, he was pretty darn good at it; a good athlete and a good pitcher."

Niekro's son, Lance, 27, is a first baseman with the San Francisco Giants. After seeing his son in a major-league uniform for the first time, Joe Niekro was quoted by the San Francisco Chronicle as saying: "Just to see that name on the back of a major-league uniform, on a major- league field, is a big thrill."
In addition to Lance, Niekro is survived by a daughter, Natalie, who lives in Scottsdale, Ariz., and is planning to be married on Dec. 9. In addition, Niekro is survived by his second wife, Debbie, and a 9-year-old son.