Philip H. Niekro

(1939- ) lived in McCook. Professional baseball player and manager, known as a knuckleball pitcher from 1964 to 1987 with the Atlanta Braves and other teams, he won 318 games, recorded over 3,000 strikeouts with a 3.35 career earned run average, and became at age 46 the oldest major league pitcher to pitch a shutout; inducted into National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997; played for McCook Braves during summer of 1959 in Nebraska State League. Consult McCook Daily Gazette, September 2, 1959, p. 10 and September 10, 1959, p. 10 and New York Times, January 7, 1997, pp. B-9, B-13 and January 8, 1997, p. B-16 and Biographical Dictionary of American Sports: Baseball, Vol 2 (Greenwood Press, 2000) 1125-1127.

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