Writers Knuckle Under and Send Niekro to Hall of Fame

NEW YORK — Like one of his knuckleballs, Phil Niekro fluttered into the Hall of Fame.

Niekro, who missed on his first four tries, made it Monday. The only knuckleball pitcher to win 300 games, he was the lone player elected.

“Well, sometimes you wonder,” Niekro said at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. “I thought someday it was going to come.”

Still, he wondered.

“I can see why I haven’t, then I could see why I should have,” he said of missing out the first four times. “You just go with the flow. You’ve just got to wait 364 more days. Those go by, you wait 364 more days until that call you get.”

Niekro, the top vote-getter last year when no one was elected, was named on 380 of the 473 ballots. He got 80.34% of the vote, easily above the required 75%.

“It’s a day of a dream. I’ve had my nightmares,” Niekro said.

Don Sutton, another 300-game winner, fell nine votes short of the 355 needed. Former slugger Tony Perez missed by 43 in voting by the Baseball Writers’ Assn. of America.

Niekro, 318-274 in 24 seasons, mostly with the Braves, will join reliever Hoyt Wilhelm as the preeminent knuckleball pitchers in the Hall when he is enshrined as the 229th member. The date for the induction ceremonies this summer in Cooperstown, N.Y., has not been determined.

“Giving a description of today’s phone call is impossible,” Niekro said. “I’ve been stunned before. I just didn’t prepare myself this year. I was not going to get myself so high.”

Niekro said he spent Monday at his home in Flowery Branch, Ga., working around the house.

“I just tried to keep my mind off of it,” he said.

Niekro got 68.3% of the vote last year. He received 65.7% in his first year of eligibility in 1993, followed by 60% in 1994 and 62.1% in 1995.

Niekro had a lifetime 3.35 earned-run average. He pitched two seasons in Milwaukee, moved with the team to Atlanta from 1966-1983 and later pitched for the New York Yankees, Cleveland and Toronto. He made a final appearance for Atlanta in 1987.

He said his plaque at the Hall will show an Atlanta cap.

He said his greatest and worst days in baseball came with the Braves.

“The worst was when I got released,” Niekro said. “The down of my life was when I had to pack my bags and walk out of the Atlanta clubhouse.”

Then, when it was apparent his career was at its end, Stan Kasten, the Braves’ president, signed Niekro to a one-day contract “for a buck, I think.”

Niekro said it was his greatest day in the game, pitching one last time for Atlanta because it let him “walk away from my career in baseball with an Atlanta Brave hat on. The no-hitter, winning 300 games, all that stuff all becomes secondary. I was born a Brave and I left a Brave.”

Sutton missed the Hall on his fourth try. He was 324-256 with a 3.26 ERA in 23 seasons, most of them with the Dodgers.

“There’s a guy who won 324 games, more than I have,” Niekro said. “You try to figure that one out.”

Perez ranks 16th on baseball’s lifetime RBIs list with 1,652. Every player ahead of him is already in the Hall.

The Veterans Committee will meet March 5 to consider older candidates. The late Nellie Fox is expected to be selected.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

The One and Only

PHIL NIEKRO’S STATISTICS

Year-by-year statistics for Phil Niekro , the only player elected to the Hall of Fame on Monday:

REGULAR SEASON

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Year Team IP W-L SO BB ERA 1964 Mil 15 0-0 8 7 4.80 1965 Mil 74 2/3 2-3 49 26 2.88 1966 Atl 50 1/3 4-3 17 23 4.14 1967 Atl 207 11-9 129 55 1.87 1968 Atl 256 2/3 14-12 140 45 2.59 1969 Atl 284 23-13 193 57 2.57 1970 Atl 230 12-18 168 68 4.27 1971 Atl 269 15-14 173 70 2.98 1972 Atl 282 16-12 164 53 3.06 1973 Atl 245 13-10 131 89 3.31 1974 Atl 302 20-13 195 88 2.38 1975 Atl 276 15-15 144 72 3.20 1976 Atl 271 17-11 173 101 3.29 1977 Atl 330 16-20 262 164 4.04 1978 Atl 334 19-18 248 102 2.88 1979 Atl 342 21-20 208 113 3.39 1980 Atl 275 15-18 176 85 3.63 1981 Atl 139 7-7 62 56 3.21 1982 Atl 234 1/3 17-4 144 73 3.61 1983 Atl 201 2/3 11-10 128 105 3.97 1984 NYY 215 2/3 16-8 136 78 3.09 1985 NYY 220 16-12 149 120 4.09 1986 Cle 210 1/3 11-11 81 98 4.32 1987 Cle 138 2/3 7-13 64 66 6.30 Tor-Atl Tot 5403 1/3 318-274 3342 1809 3.35 PLAYOFFS Year Opp IP W-L SO BB ERA 1969 NYM 8 0-1 4 4 4.50 1982 StL 6 0-0 5 4 3.00 Tot 14 0-1 9 8 3.86

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THE VOTING

Results announced Monday in the 1997 Baseball Hall of Fame voting. There were 473 votes cast, 355 needed for election.

HE’S IN

Phil Niekro 380

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JUST MISSED

Don Sutton 346

Tony Perez 312

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THE NEXT 12

Ron Santo 186

Jim Rice 178

Steve Garvey 167

Bruce Sutter 130

Jim Kaat 107

Joe Torre 105

Tommy John 97

Minnie Minoso 84

Dave Parker 83

Dick Allen 79

Dave Concepcion 60

Luis Tiant 53

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OTHERS

Keith Hernandez 45

Mickey Lolich 34

Ron Guidry 31

Bob Boone 28

Dwight Evans 28

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DROPPED

Players dropped from future consideration for failing to receive at least 24 votes:

Ken Griffey Sr. 22

Fred Lynn 22

Graig Nettles 22

Bobby Bonds 20

Rusty Staub 18

Rick Reuschel 2

Mike Scott 2

Garry Templeton 2

Terry Kennedy 1

Terry Puhl 1

A COMPARISON

A look at where Phil Niekro and Don Sutton rank all-time in major pitching categories:

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Category Niekro Sutton Wins 318 (14th) 324 (12th) Games 864 (13th) 774 (21st) Innings 5,403 1/3 (4th) 5,282 1/3 (7th) Strikeouts 3,342 (8th) 3,574 (5th) Walks 1,809 (3rd) 1,343 (21st) Shutouts 45 (28th) 58 (10th)

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