The box score of Phil Niekro’s extraordinary career has intrigued and astonished baseball aficionados for years, but that doesn’t reflect his great love for the outdoors or the humility which characterized his life — his ability to walk with kings and never lose the common touch.
I saw Phil pitch many times with the Braves. There were pre- and post-game interviews when I would listen to him talk pitching. The master of the knuckleball had difficulty explaining what made his knuckler “do what it did.” It was like the naïve country boy from the sticks who could not fathom how a Thermos bottle kept your coffee hot in the winter and your tea cold in the summer. “How does it know?” he asked in exasperation.
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