Some Obituaries of Recently Deceased Major Leaguers Part Two

[Ron Madden]

National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum ⚾
@baseballhall
Master of the knuckleball and a great mentor, leader and friend, Hall of Famer and @braves legend Phil Niekro passed away overnight at the age of 81.

[Nathan]

...

[westofyou]

The Niekro's grew up with John Havlicek

[Big Klu]

The Niekro's grew up with John Havlicek

The Bridgeport Bulldogs. The school district to their immediate north is Martins Ferry, home of the Grozas. And immediatedly to their north was Warren Consolidated, the home of Bill Mazeroski.

There was a lot of talent along the Ohio River between Steubenville and Bellaire in those days.

[Big Klu]

The 2020 Recently Deceased Team adds a fourth Hall of Fame starter to their rotation.

In further news, they have announced a name change to the 2020 Field of Dreams Team, and that they will be conducting Spring Training at an undisclosed farm in Iowa.

Transactions
Signed RHP Phil Niekro.
Optioned RHP Bob Lee to AAA.
Designated RHP Dick Hyde for assignment.


Lineup (8)
C Hal W. Smith
1B Bob Watson
2B Joe Morgan
3B Dick Allen
SS Tony Fernandez
LF Lou Brock
CF Jimmy Wynn
RF Al Kaline

Bench (7)
C/1B Don Pavletich
1B/3B/OF Bob Oliver
2B/3B Tony Taylor
3B/SS/2B Denis Menke
SS/3B Eddie Kasko
OF Jay Johnstone
OF Claudell Washington

Rotation (5)
RHP Tom Seaver
RHP Bob Gibson
LHP Whitey Ford
RHP Phil Niekro
LHP Johnny Antonelli/LHP Mike McCormick

Bullpen (5)
LHP Ron Perranoski
RHP Lindy McDaniel
RHP Don Larsen
LHP Rogelio Moret
LHP Mike McCormick/LHP Johnny Antonelli


The remainder of the 40-man roster:
RHP Matt Keough
RHP Bart Johnson
RHP Bob J. Miller
RHP Ed Farmer
RHP Bob Lee
RHP Adrian Devine

C Ed FitzGerald
C Biff Pocoroba

2B Glenn Beckert
2B Frank Bolling
2B Horace Clarke
2B Damaso Garcia

OF Gil Coan
OF/1B Angel Echevarria
OF Lou Johnson


Probable batting order:
Brock lf
Morgan 2b
Kaline rf
Allen 3b
Wynn cf
Watson 1b
Fernandez ss
Smith c
<pitcher>

[Bruce Berenyi]

oh no bob lee optioned i am crestfallen

[UKFlounder]

From Johnny Bench on Twitter:

@baseballhall @Braves #PhilNiekro has joined the Heavenly Halos team. I talked to Phil and Nancy a few days ago and he was prepared. I remember Sparky saying we had a chance to trade for Knucksie and what I thought. I said you better trade for his catcher too! Great human being.

[cumberlandreds]

RIP Phil Niekro. Probably the best knuckleball pitcher of all time. I witnessed that knuckleball at its best in 1976. It was the next to last day of the season and he pitched against the Reds. He took a no hitter one out into the the 9th before Geronimo doubled down the left field line. At the moment I was glad the Reds broke up the no hitter. But since they didn't comeback to win I wished afterwards he had gotten that no hitter. That was last game the 1976 Reds lost that season too, including post season. Knucksie was one of my favorite non Reds. By all accounts he was just as good a man as he was a MLB pitcher. RIP Phil Niekro

[Big Klu]

RIP Phil Niekro. Probably the best knuckleball pitcher of all time. I witnessed that knuckleball at its best in 1976. It was the next to last day of the season and he pitched against the Reds. He took a no hitter one out into the the 9th before Geronimo doubled down the left field line. At the moment I was glad the Reds broke up the no hitter. But since they didn't comeback to win I wished afterwards he had gotten that no hitter. That was last game the 1976 Reds lost that season too, including post season. Knucksie was one of my favorite non Reds. By all accounts he was just as good a man as he was a MLB pitcher. RIP Phil Niekro

He was also one of my favorite non-Reds, because he was from Eastern Ohio. I remember my Babe Ruth League coach telling us that he had played against Phil Niekro in American Legion ball. As a 13-year-old, I thought it was pretty cool that someone I knew had actually played against a big-leaguer!

[goreds2]

Back in the day, Phil Niekro was the only chance the Braves had to win a game.

[Ron Madden]

Hitters described Niekros knuckler as floating in there like a butterfly with hiccups.

[westofyou]

Good Niekro article

https://www.ajc.com/sports/atlanta-b...OBDY4GXFVUPTI/

[cumberlandreds]

Good Niekro article

https://www.ajc.com/sports/atlanta-b...OBDY4GXFVUPTI/

Very good article. Thanks for posting. It was neat that Dale Murphy talked about the near no hitter of Niekro's that I attended. I didn't remember that Murphy was actually the catcher in that game.

[RedsBaron]

I had wondered if 2020 saw the greatest collection of baseball players to ever die in a single year. According to the weekend [Jan. 2-3, 2021] edition ofThe Wall Street Journal, it was, "and it isn't even close."
The 110 MLB alumni who died in 2020 combined to accumulate 1,012.6 WAR. The closest year to 2020 was 1972, when 100 players with an aggregate WAR of 759.9 passed away, a group which included Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente. The average year of the last century produced a collective WAR of 409.2 WAR, less than half of 2020's total.

[Big Klu]

Final roster for the 2020 Field of Dreams Team:

Lineup (8)
C Hal W. Smith
1B Bob Watson
2B Joe Morgan
3B Dick Allen
SS Tony Fernandez
LF Lou Brock
CF Jimmy Wynn
RF Al Kaline

Bench (7)
C/1B Don Pavletich
1B/3B/OF Bob Oliver
2B/3B Tony Taylor
3B/SS/2B Denis Menke
SS/3B/MGR Eddie Kasko
OF Jay Johnstone
OF Claudell Washington

Rotation (5)
RHP Tom Seaver
RHP Bob Gibson
LHP Whitey Ford
RHP Phil Niekro
LHP Johnny Antonelli/LHP Mike McCormick

Bullpen (5)
LHP Ron Perranoski
RHP Lindy McDaniel
RHP Don Larsen
LHP Rogelio Moret
LHP Mike McCormick/LHP Johnny Antonelli


The remainder of the 40-man roster:
RHP Matt Keough
RHP Bart Johnson
RHP Bob J. Miller
RHP Ed Farmer
RHP Bob Lee
RHP Adrian Devine

C Ed FitzGerald
C Biff Pocoroba

2B Glenn Beckert
2B Frank Bolling
2B Horace Clarke
2B Damaso Garcia

OF Gil Coan
OF/1B Angel Echevarria
OF Lou Johnson


Probable batting order:
Brock lf
Morgan 2b
Kaline rf
Allen 3b
Wynn cf
Watson 1b
Fernandez ss
Smith c
<pitcher>

In AL parks, Claudell Washington and Bob Oliver will platoon at DH, batting 7th, with Fernandez dropping to 9th:

Brock lf
Morgan 2b
Kaline rf
Allen 3b
Wynn cf
Watson 1b
Washington/Oliver dh
Smith c
Fernandez ss