Joe Niekro

HandednessBats Right · Throws Right

Listed at6 ft 1 in · 185 lb

BornNovember 7, 1944 · Martins Ferry, OH, USA

MLB debutApril 16, 1967

Final gameApril 29, 1988

Seasons22 (1967–1988)

Chicago Cubs 1967–1969; San Diego Padres 1969; Detroit Tigers 1970–1972; Atlanta Braves 1973–1974; Houston Astros 1975–1985; New York Yankees 1985–1986; Minnesota Twins 1987; New York Yankees 1987; Minnesota Twins 1988

Percentile snapshot

1985 season — qualified pitchers

67.9

25.6

29.5

16.7

SHO

17.9

211

46.2

35.9

107

5.1

121

39.7

24.4

225.3

55.1

ERA

3.83

35.9

WHIP

1.411

14.1

K/9

4.83

33.3

FIP

4.43

FIP-

125.4

1.3

ERA+

91.7

16.7

sWAR

1.7

25.6

of 79 qualified 1985 pitchers (min 162 IP)

Career, era-adjusted

ERA+

97.9

29.8

sWAR

32.3

96.9

ERA+ measured against qualified careers (1,000+ IP), 1,334 of them; sWAR measured against every career in history, 24,011 of them. Only era-adjusted career stats carry a percentile — a raw career total gets a rank instead, because pooling the 1890s with the 2020s is a choice, not a measurement.

Season by season

Batting

Season	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1967	36	58	46	5	9	2	0	0	11	1	13	1	.196	.204	.239	.443	11.6	24.0	.203	2.2
1968	34	73	60	2	6	0	0	0	0	4	23	0	.100	.156	.100	.256	-39.4	-23.5	.135	-1.3
1969	42	69	56	1	7	2	0	0	4	6	18	0	.125	.206	.161	.367	2.9	4.0	.188	1.9
1970	39	88	66	8	13	3	1	0	7	7	17	0	.197	.274	.273	.547	51.7	51.5	.263	1.7
1971	32	38	30	5	4	1	0	0	2	2	9	0	.133	.188	.167	.354	-10.3	0.6	.176	-0.3
1972	18	14	12	2	3	1	0	0	1	1	4	0	.250	.308	.333	.641	92.2	90.0	.307	0.1
1973	20	3	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	.333	.333	.333	.667	78.8	79.9	.311	0.2
1974	27	6	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	-130.9	-100.0	.000	0.5
1975	40	18	14	1	3	0	0	0	0	2	2	0	.214	.313	.214	.527	61.9	53.4	.272	1.3
1976	36	32	27	1	5	2	0	1	1	1	8	0	.185	.214	.370	.585	64.2	70.4	.267	1.2
1977	44	55	50	2	7	0	0	0	2	2	13	0	.140	.173	.140	.313	-16.0	-11.0	.152	2.9
1978	36	74	65	6	9	2	0	0	5	0	18	0	.138	.138	.169	.308	-24.2	-11.0	.142	0.5
1979	38	99	83	1	10	2	0	0	4	2	21	0	.120	.140	.145	.284	-30.5	-19.8	.134	4.0
1980	37	102	80	7	22	5	0	0	10	4	15	0	.275	.310	.338	.647	89.2	88.0	.304	2.6
1981	24	64	51	1	9	1	0	0	6	2	10	0	.176	.208	.196	.404	10.7	18.0	.196	2.8
1982	35	98	89	2	8	2	0	0	5	1	30	0	.090	.099	.112	.211	-51.6	-38.8	.099	5.2
1983	38	98	85	1	8	2	0	0	2	0	22	0	.094	.105	.118	.222	-50.2	-36.5	.105	2.1
1984	38	96	83	4	11	0	0	0	6	2	21	0	.133	.153	.133	.285	-25.0	-16.3	.139	3.3
1985	35	80	68	6	17	1	0	0	6	1	16	0	.250	.257	.265	.522	43.3	49.1	.242	1.7
1986	25	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.2
1987	27	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.2
1988	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	-0.7

Pitching

Season	G	GS	W	L	SV	CG	SHO	H	ER	BB	SO	HR	IP	ERA	WHIP	K/9	FIP	FIP-	ERA+	sWAR
1967	36	22	10	7	0	7	2	171	63	32	77	15	169.7	3.34	1.196	4.08	3.50	99.2	105.6	2.2
1968	34	29	14	10	2	2	1	204	85	59	65	18	177.0	4.32	1.486	3.31	4.18	132.9	72.8	-1.3
1969	41	34	8	18	0	8	3	237	91	51	62	18	221.3	3.70	1.301	2.52	3.85	107.7	96.3	1.9
1970	38	34	12	13	0	6	2	221	96	72	101	28	213.0	4.06	1.376	4.27	4.25	113.7	92.0	1.7
1971	31	15	6	7	1	0	0	136	61	49	43	13	122.3	4.49	1.512	3.16	4.29	121.7	78.5	-0.3
1972	18	7	3	2	1	1	0	62	20	8	24	3	47.0	3.83	1.489	4.60	2.65	85.2	81.3	0.1
1973	20	0	2	4	3	0	0	23	11	11	12	2	24.0	4.13	1.417	4.50	4.01	102.2	95.1	0.2
1974	27	2	3	2	0	0	0	36	17	18	31	5	43.0	3.56	1.256	6.49	4.05	107.5	106.0	0.5
1975	40	4	6	4	4	1	1	79	30	39	54	3	88.0	3.07	1.341	5.52	3.23	94.4	111.5	1.3
1976	36	13	4	8	0	0	0	107	44	56	77	8	118.0	3.36	1.381	5.87	3.67	113.0	96.9	1.2
1977	44	14	13	8	5	9	2	155	61	64	101	14	180.7	3.04	1.212	5.03	3.70	102.4	119.0	2.9
1978	35	29	14	14	0	10	1	190	87	73	97	13	202.7	3.86	1.298	4.31	3.71	111.4	86.3	0.5
1979	38	38	21	11	0	11	5	221	88	107	119	17	263.7	3.00	1.244	4.06	3.92	111.1	117.6	4.0
1980	37	36	20	12	0	11	2	268	101	79	127	12	256.0	3.55	1.355	4.46	3.34	99.4	94.5	2.6
1981	24	24	9	9	0	5	2	150	52	47	77	8	166.0	2.82	1.187	4.17	3.22	96.2	118.6	2.8
1982	35	35	17	12	0	16	5	224	74	64	130	12	270.0	2.47	1.067	4.33	3.13	92.6	137.1	5.2
1983	38	38	15	14	0	9	1	238	102	101	152	15	263.7	3.48	1.286	5.19	3.44	100.3	98.6	2.1
1984	38	38	16	12	0	6	1	223	84	89	127	16	248.3	3.04	1.256	4.60	3.73	110.4	111.0	3.3
1985	35	35	11	13	0	4	1	211	96	107	121	24	225.3	3.83	1.411	4.83	4.43	125.4	91.7	1.7
1986	25	25	9	10	0	0	0	139	68	63	59	15	125.7	4.87	1.607	4.23	4.93	119.9	84.5	0.2
1987	27	26	7	13	0	1	0	155	87	64	84	15	147.0	5.33	1.490	5.14	4.57	100.8	85.0	0.2
1988	5	2	1	1	0	0	0	16	13	9	7	2	11.7	10.03	2.143	5.40	6.16	152.2	40.4	-0.7

sWAR is the season TOTAL for a player who both hit and pitched: the record book carries one figure per season, not a split, so the same number appears on both lines rather than being counted twice.

Career totals

Batting

706

1,165

973

152

RBI

262

.1562

OBP

.1876

SLG

.1881

OPS

.3757

Pitching

G (P)

702

119th-most career G (P)

500

50th-most career GS

221

80th-most career W

204

43rd-most career L

107

372nd-most career CG

SHO

125th-most career SHO

3,584

63rd-most career IP

SO (P)

1,747

138th-most career SO (P)

BB allowed

1,262

39th-most career BB allowed

ERA

3.593

WHIP

1.3192

K/9

4.39

A total is called out only where it ranks in the all-time top 500; hover a figure for its rank and the size of the field it was ranked in. Ranks are absolute facts and carry no percentile — the population for "career home runs" would be an editorial choice, and the rank is not.

Best games

Batting

Date	Game	AB	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	TB
1976-05-29	HOU @ ATL Gameday	3	1	1	0	1	1	4
1980-07-27	HOU @ WSH Gameday	3	1	3	0	0	1	3
1981-05-30	HOU @ SF Gameday	3	0	3	0	0	1	3
1967-07-19	ATL @ CHC Gameday	3	1	2	1	0	3	3
1967-08-22	CHC @ PIT Gameday	3	2	2	1	0	3	3

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1978-09-20	ATL @ HOU Gameday	9.0	9	3	2	0	11	0
1982-05-29	HOU @ NYM Gameday	9.0	5	2	2	0	9	1
1983-07-31	CIN @ HOU Gameday	9.0	7	2	2	1	9	1
1985-05-31	CHC @ HOU Gameday	7.0	4	2	1	3	9	0
1978-07-17	PHI @ HOU Gameday	11.0	5	1	1	3	8	0

Ranked from our own play-by-play game log, which begins in 1901 — not from the record book, so a career played outside it shows nothing here rather than a short list.

Honors

1× All-Star

Major awards only — the awards table also records Player of the Week, and forty of those would bury seven MVPs. Hover for the years.