Major league pitcher Joe Niekro died last night at the age of 61.

Joe and his brother Phil were among the last of the Knuckleballers.  He had a 21 year pitching career, going on long after most pitchers have retired.  In fact, his career is #3 in duration for a pitcher, only exceeded by his brother Phil (23 years) and Nolan Ryan (27 years).

In 1973, both brothers blayed for the Atlanta Braves.  They would reunite a decade later in 1987 when both brothers again played for the Yankees.

Joe is probably most remembered for an incident when he was pitching for the Twins in AUgust 1987.  He had a nail file, and claims that he was trimming his nails when the umpire called him on having it.  A video showed Joe trying to hide the file in his back pocket, but it slipped out.  The umpire picked it up, and threw him out of the game, accusing him of altering baseballs.  He was later suspended for 10 games.

Brain aneurysm, that's a bummer :(  I bet Lance isn't too happy right now.

RIP Niekro.

I'm curious to know if he had known about the aneurysm prior to his death. 

I heard about his death yesterday morning in the L.A. Times.

I can't say that I have too many memories of him, given that he pitched mostly in the American League, and I was still a little kid when he retired. But I do have a couple of his later baseball cards.

R.I.P. Joe. :\'(