Baseball on July 4th: 5 memorable moments
July 4, 1984 – Phil Niekro Tosses 3,000th Strikeout
Phil Niekro, affectionately known as Knucksie, gave Atlanta Braves’ fans like myself a ton of thrills in his 18+ years in Atlanta, and fans around the league as he pitched over an amazing 24 year career.
Probably no other knuckleballer threw with such command of such a difficult pitch, and did it so well for so long. Granted, the knuckleball is easier on a pitcher’s arm, but to have the kind of command of those pitches for as long as Niekro did is simply amazing.
Inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997 (too late maybe?), no other knuckle hurler ever had as many victories in his career – a total of 318 ugly gems, and overall ranking 16th on the all-time wins list.
A five time winner of the NL Gold Glove Award, a memorable moment for me in Niekro’s storied career came on July 4, 1984. It was the first summer after my freshman college year (also storied), and much to my chagrin Niekro was no longer an Atlanta Brave having just moved to the New York Yankees (I still cringe today). Playing against the Texas Rangers, Niekro tossed his 3000th strikeout!
Boxscore, courtesy of Baseball Reference:
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | BF | GSc | IR | IS | WPA | aLI | RE24 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phil Niekro, W (11-4) | 8 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1.84 | 30 | 74 | 0.453 | 1.17 | 4.1 | ||
| Jay Howell | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.12 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.008 | 0.10 | 0.5 | |
| Team Totals | 9 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0.00 | 33 | 74 | 0 | 0 | 0.461 | 1.08 | 4.6 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/4/2014.
It would have been much more memorable had Phil still been an Atlanta Brave, but I was nonetheless pleased as punch to see Niekro notch such an amazing milestone in his career.
On that Independence Day, Knucksie did what only 16 other pitchers have done to date – notch that 3000th strikeout! For that, he deserves a place squarely on my list of memorable moments.