Phil Niekro

HandednessBats Right · Throws Right

Listed at6 ft 1 in · 180 lb

BornApril 1, 1939 · Blaine, OH, USA

MLB debutApril 15, 1964

Final gameSeptember 27, 1987

Seasons24 (1964–1987)

Milwaukee Braves 1964–1965; Atlanta Braves 1966–1983; New York Yankees 1984–1985; Cleveland Indians 1986; Atlanta Braves 1987; Cleveland Indians 1987; Toronto Blue Jays 1987

Percentile snapshot

1986 season — qualified pitchers

42.7

48.8

51.2

SHO

241

8.5

101

24.4

1.2

30.5

210.3

53.7

ERA

4.32

26.8

WHIP

1.597

3.7

K/9

3.47

FIP

4.95

3.7

FIP-

118.5

4.9

ERA+

96.6

36.6

sWAR

1.7

34.1

of 83 qualified 1986 pitchers (min 163 IP)

Career, era-adjusted

ERA+

113.5

79.4

sWAR

83.6

99.8

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	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1964	10	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	-0.1
1965	42	10	10	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	.100	.100	.100	.200	-61.6	-43.3	.092	1.3
1966	28	11	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	-128.4	-100.0	.000	0.1
1967	46	66	57	4	7	2	0	0	2	1	16	0	.123	.167	.158	.325	-13.8	-5.9	.160	5.9
1968	37	95	77	3	8	1	0	2	7	0	22	0	.104	.104	.195	.299	-34.2	-11.8	.135	3.8
1969	40	106	95	11	20	4	0	0	7	2	21	0	.211	.227	.253	.479	26.5	34.2	.224	6.8
1970	34	88	79	5	12	0	0	1	3	2	17	0	.152	.171	.190	.361	-17.3	-5.5	.168	2.1
1971	42	101	92	3	14	1	0	0	4	0	20	0	.152	.160	.163	.323	-30.8	-10.7	.151	4.7
1972	38	108	93	7	18	1	0	1	4	1	22	0	.194	.216	.237	.453	10.7	23.8	.213	5.4
1973	42	91	82	3	10	4	0	1	2	1	26	0	.122	.143	.207	.350	-22.9	-6.9	.162	4.1
1974	41	118	104	5	20	2	0	0	11	3	18	0	.192	.220	.212	.432	10.9	19.4	.209	8.0
1975	39	106	99	5	17	2	1	0	10	1	18	0	.172	.176	.212	.389	-9.8	6.4	.180	4.5
1976	38	105	94	5	18	3	0	1	12	0	8	1	.191	.198	.255	.453	10.5	24.4	.210	4.3
1977	44	123	109	2	19	1	0	0	7	0	15	0	.174	.180	.183	.364	-25.0	-7.0	.167	4.3
1978	45	129	120	5	27	4	0	0	10	3	25	0	.225	.248	.258	.506	38.0	43.3	.239	6.5
1979	44	134	123	10	24	6	0	0	12	1	19	0	.195	.213	.244	.457	9.4	20.6	.211	6.1
1980	40	96	90	2	12	5	0	0	5	1	19	0	.133	.143	.189	.332	-26.5	-9.4	.153	2.8
1981	22	55	52	1	4	0	0	0	1	0	11	0	.077	.077	.077	.154	-83.8	-56.7	.072	1.8
1982	35	91	87	6	17	4	0	1	7	0	16	0	.195	.193	.276	.469	15.8	27.9	.212	2.9
1983	34	73	65	3	12	2	0	0	5	1	12	0	.185	.194	.215	.409	-3.2	10.5	.190	1.8
1984	32	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	4.0
1985	33	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2.1
1986	34	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1.7
1987	26	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	-129.3	-100.0	.000	-1.3

Pitching

Season	G	GS	W	L	SV	CG	SHO	H	ER	BB	SO	HR	IP	ERA	WHIP	K/9	FIP	FIP-	ERA+	sWAR
1964	10	0	0	0	0	0	0	15	8	7	8	1	15.0	4.80	1.467	4.80	4.15	116.7	74.1	-0.1
1965	41	1	2	3	6	0	0	73	24	26	49	5	74.7	2.89	1.326	5.91	3.36	94.7	122.6	1.3
1966	28	0	4	3	2	0	0	48	23	23	17	4	50.3	4.11	1.411	3.04	4.52	123.0	89.4	0.1
1967	46	20	11	9	9	10	1	164	43	55	129	9	207.0	1.87	1.058	5.61	2.88	85.9	179.1	5.9
1968	37	34	14	12	2	15	5	228	74	45	140	16	257.0	2.59	1.062	4.90	2.85	95.1	115.6	3.8
1969	40	35	23	13	1	21	4	235	81	57	193	21	284.3	2.56	1.027	6.11	2.91	80.6	140.9	6.8
1970	34	32	12	18	0	10	3	222	109	68	168	40	229.7	4.27	1.263	6.58	4.62	108.6	99.5	2.1
1971	42	36	15	14	2	18	4	248	89	70	173	27	268.7	2.98	1.184	5.80	3.38	91.9	123.2	4.7
1972	38	36	16	12	0	17	1	254	96	53	164	22	282.3	3.06	1.087	5.23	2.99	79.6	122.9	5.4
1973	42	30	13	10	4	9	1	214	90	89	131	21	245.0	3.31	1.237	4.81	3.75	95.5	118.6	4.1
1974	41	39	20	13	1	18	6	249	80	88	195	19	302.3	2.38	1.115	5.80	3.05	80.8	158.3	8.0
1975	39	37	15	15	0	13	1	285	98	72	144	29	275.7	3.20	1.295	4.70	3.84	102.9	116.7	4.5
1976	38	37	17	11	0	10	2	249	99	101	173	18	270.7	3.29	1.293	5.75	3.44	92.2	113.3	4.3
1977	44	43	16	20	0	20	2	315	148	164	262	26	330.3	4.03	1.450	7.14	3.73	85.6	108.1	4.3
1978	44	42	19	18	1	22	4	295	107	102	248	16	334.3	2.88	1.187	6.68	2.79	79.1	122.5	6.5
1979	44	44	21	20	0	23	1	311	129	113	208	41	342.0	3.39	1.240	5.47	4.12	103.1	117.8	6.1
1980	40	38	15	18	1	11	3	256	111	85	176	30	275.0	3.63	1.240	5.76	3.84	102.8	102.9	2.8
1981	22	22	7	7	0	3	3	120	48	56	62	6	139.3	3.10	1.263	4.00	3.57	99.5	115.7	1.8
1982	35	35	17	4	0	4	2	225	94	73	144	23	234.3	3.61	1.272	5.53	3.77	100.6	103.8	2.9
1983	34	33	11	10	0	2	0	212	89	105	128	18	201.7	3.97	1.572	5.71	4.16	107.9	97.0	1.8
1984	32	31	16	8	0	5	1	219	74	76	136	15	215.7	3.09	1.368	5.68	3.49	90.8	124.5	4.0
1985	33	33	16	12	0	7	1	203	100	120	149	29	220.0	4.09	1.468	6.10	4.76	117.9	98.7	2.1
1986	34	32	11	11	0	5	0	241	101	95	81	24	210.3	4.32	1.597	3.47	4.95	118.5	96.6	1.7
1987	26	26	7	13	0	2	0	163	97	66	64	22	138.7	6.30	1.651	4.15	5.53	122.3	71.8	-1.3

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

866

1,707

1,537

260

RBI

109

314

.1692

OBP

.1831

SLG

.2115

OPS

.3946

Pitching

G (P)

864

39th-most career G (P)

716

5th-most career GS

318

16th-most career W

274

5th-most career L

245

85th-most career CG

SHO

29th-most career SHO

5,404

4th-most career IP

SO (P)

3,342

13th-most career SO (P)

BB allowed

1,809

3rd-most career BB allowed

ERA

3.351

343rd-lowest career ERA

WHIP

1.2681

421st-lowest career WHIP

K/9

5.57

485th-highest career K/9

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
1976-07-28	LAD @ ATL Gameday	4	1	2	0	1	4	5
1972-05-23	ATL @ CIN Gameday	4	1	2	0	1	1	5
1976-06-19	CHC @ ATL Gameday	5	2	3	1	0	0	4
1979-06-10	ATL @ PHI Gameday	5	0	2	2	0	1	4
1980-08-31	ATL @ STL Gameday	4	1	2	2	0	0	4

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1974-04-15	SD @ ATL Gameday	9.0	4	0	0	3	13	0
1977-06-09	PHI @ ATL Gameday	9.0	4	0	0	1	13	0
1977-08-23	PHI @ ATL Gameday	8.0	6	3	3	7	13	1
1978-08-04	HOU @ ATL Gameday	9.0	10	2	1	2	12	0
1967-07-16	PIT @ ATL Gameday	9.0	5	1	0	0	11	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

Hall of Fame, 1997 (BBWAA)

5× Gold Glove5× 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.