A Very Special Man was Born on this Day in 1944

Joe Niekro - 1967

Today marks what would be my Dad’s 65th birthday.  On this day in 1944, my hero was born and now leaves a legacy effecting the lives of thousands.  God was definitely looking out for me the day he brought me into this world, to the two most incredible parents on the planet.  I thank Him everyday for giving me such loving, warm and giving parents.  Although today is a sad day since Dad is not here for me to share in his special day, it is a day that I realize how truly lucky I am to have known this incredible man that I have the privilege to call my father.  And tonight, as I will be speaking to thousands on Brain Aneurysm Awareness Week at the Rising Stars Game for the AZ Fall League, I am honored to give Dad the most precious birthday gift of all…a tribute to him!  Tonight, we will witness how Dad’s life touched others then and still today, as a check for $13975 is given to The Joe Niekro Foundation as a result of last week’s strike-outs from all AZ Fall League Pitchers wearing one of the seven uniforms Dad did during his career.  Not only did the four sponsors step up to the plate with their $36 per strike-out contribution, but every one of the seven teams will be doing the same thing…a true tribute a man that influenced people’s lives every single day.   For those that knew Dad, I guarantee they will all agree, that they became a better person by having him in their life.  Not a day goes by that I don’t have someone tell me how wonderful my father was.  So, today, we celebrate and honor a man that gave so many people so many beautiful memories, and me, a life I am so thankful to have.  I love you Dad!

Brain Aneurysm Awareness Weeks Raises over $11,000

The K’s added up this past week as the AZ Fall League honored Joe Niekro, claiming the week of 10/26 as Brain Aneurysm Awareness Week.  Strike-outs represented donations to the foundation, so as many guys went down swinging this past week, at least they left the plate knowing their swings were going to a good cause.  As pitchers from the Cubs, Padres, Tigers, Braves, Astros, Yankees and Twins (the seven teams Niekro played for during his career), were throwing the heat, the dollars were racking up.   A very special thank you to Coulter Motor Company in Tempe, Pure Fitness, Ms. TC Schuttler, and Mr. Matthew Tarini, each committing to $36 for every strike-out from these teams.  That’s $144 per K. The participating pitchers saved the best for last, racking up 17 K’s on Saturday, the most for any one day this week. It was a great week for a wonderful cause. If you watch MLB Network’s broadcast of the Rising Stars Showcase on Saturday, Nov. 7, you might be able to see Natalie Niekro on hand for the check ceremony. And she might be able to celebrate more than just the $11,000+ from the fundraiser. Several teams, when they found out about the week’s events, agreed to step up and make a donation in honor of their pitchers performing in the Fall League. The Cubs, Astros and Yankees all said they would make a donation, particularly if their pitchers struck out the most batters this week. Details to come on just what’s being done — and if other teams agree to join in. Here’s how the standings finished:

Yankees- 15 K

Tigers – 15 K

Astros - 10 K

Braves – 10 K

Cubs – 9 K

Twins – 9 K

Padres – 9 K

 It was definitely a prosperous week, not just for the 77 strike-outs logged, but also for the great awareness brought to The Joe Niekro Foundation.  Monday, October 26, didn’t just mark the beginning of Brain Aneurysm Awareness Week, but sadly also represented the three year date of Joe Niekro’s aneurysm.  As we venture into a continued partnership with the AZ Fall League, The Joe Niekro Foundation also looks forward to the opportunity of taking this concept nationwide during Spring Training and the MLB season, so look for the concept to come to your favorite team very soon.

Strikeouts to benefit Niekro Foundation

Every year, teams support various charities with strikeout-induced fundraisers. Typically, a sponsor decides to donate a certain amount of money for every strikeout a certain pitcher rings up.

What’s happening in the Arizona Fall League this week takes the whole K-charity idea to a new level.

The league is working with the Joe Niekro Foundation to raise money and awareness for brain aneurysm research. Three years ago, All-Star knuckleballer Joe Niekro suffered an aneurysm and passed away the following day. Aneurysm Awareness Week in the AFL begins on Oct. 26, the third anniversary of his death.

“I want to get as tied into Major League Baseball as I can,” said Natalie Niekro, Joe’s daughter, the president of the Foundation and a resident of Scottsdale, Ariz. “What can I do to incorporate all of the teams in the quickest way possible? I know the Fall League represents all of the teams. I contacted [AFL executive director] Steve Cobb. At first, he was a little apprehensive. As soon as I sent him the idea, he called me within minutes and said he’d love to be involved.”

The fundraiser is a combined effort from pitchers across several organizations. Over the course of the week, the strikeouts recorded by pitchers from the seven Major league organizations for which Joe Niekro pitched — the Cubs, Padres, Tigers, Braves, Astros, Yankees and Twins — will be tallied. Four sponsors — Pure Fitness, Coulter Motor Company and Matthew Tarini, managing principal and CFP with the Wells Fargo Financial Network and Ms. TC Schuttler – have each agreed to donate $36 for each strikeout. Niekro and her husband, Luke Woosley, will match the total for the week. All the money will go straight to the Foundation and its efforts to raise awareness about and funding for aneurysm research.

There’s much to learn. Most don’t know that aneurysms affect one in 15 people. Niekro herself didn’t know until she was impacted directly. Having started the foundation, she consistently hears from people who have been similarly affected. The Fall League program is another step toward educating people about how commonplace aneurysms are.

“I know there won’t be a lot of people at these games, but it’s another opportunity to get the name of the foundation out there, educate people about aneurysms and spread the word about what we’re trying to do,” said Niekro, whose brother Lance played in the AFL in 2002 and ‘03 while with the San Francisco Giants organization.

The timing of the effort is almost eerie. It starts on the third anniversary Joe Niekro’s death. On Saturday, Nov. 7, Natalie Niekro will be at the Rising Stars Showcase on national TV (the game will be broadcast by the MLB Network), accepting the check from the week of strikeouts. That day just happens to be Joe Niekro’s birthday. The $36-per-strikeout donation has significance as well as 36 was Niekro’s number.

“It was complete fate,” Natalie Niekro said. “It was dad working from above. All the stars were aligned.”

They were certainly aligned to get the AFL’s involvement. Cobb says he went from uninformed to on board quickly, largely because Niekro was so passionate about the cause and came with the entire program in place.

“To be honest with you, Natalie’s enthusiasm toward this was the swing vote for me,” Cobb said. “Once I met with her and saw her dedication to this, that’s what hooked me. I had not been aware of the foundation in the past. She had done all the leg work in terms of sponsors. We came up with a concept to recognize her father’s 22-year career by acknowledging all seven Major League teams he played with.

“It was a very easy decision on my part. We’re happy to be associated with this and try to raise awareness on brain aneurysms.”

It looks like it might be more than a one-time thing too. Aneurysm Awareness Week might become a mainstay of the Fall League that could act as a springboard to other involvement with baseball, with ideas for Spring Training and even more strikeout-related fundraisers during the regular season if sponsors can be found.

This is the second big effort the fairly new foundation has undertaken to raise money and awareness. The first Knuckle Ball took place in Houston this July and was very successful. The next one is scheduled for Nov. 13, 2010, an offseason date picked so current players would be available.

For now, though, the focus is on Arizona. The AFL is a developmental league and the value of strikeouts for a pitcher could be debated. But for one week anyway, the pitchers from those seven organizations will know that every K will be very important, beyond just impressing scouts and team officials.

“With this charity, although I’m not a strikeout pitcher, I’ll rear back a little, I’ll snap the wrist a little more,” Tigers pitching prospect Scot Drucker said. “Anything to help out a cause, I’m more than happy to. Those are things I enjoy anyway. I’ll do my best to strike out people. It’ll give me an extra incentive.”

 

Jonathan Mayo is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Three Years Ago Today…

My Dad - My Hero

This day, October 26th, is always a very hard one.  And the week to follow isn’t one that gets much easier.  It was today, three years ago, when I received the phone call that changed my life forever.  It was the call that a child never expects, nor wants, to answer.  I remember, as if it were yesterday, a typical morning in my office shuffling through paperwork, conference calls and meetings, when my brother Lance, called frantically to tell me that something very bad had happened to Dad and I needed to get home right away.  At that time, no one was sure what exactly had happened, all we knew was that Dad was on life-support and being life-flighted to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa, FL.  Living in AZ, getting home right away meant several hours.  Not going home for clothes, luggage or even a toothbrush, I raced to the airport to get on the first flight I could, putting me in Tampa at nearly midnight that evening.  The flight had a short layover in Houston, giving me the chance to call Lance and find out the latest.  The information was no better, matter of fact, much worse.  Dad had experienced a ruptured brain aneurysm, was unresponsive and in a coma.  Getting to Tampa seemed to take eternity and nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to experience.  When I walked into Dad’s ICU room, there I saw my beloved Father, lying helpless with tubes throughout his body and a machine breathing for him.  For the next 12 hours, I knelt next to his bed, holding his hand, praying for a miracle.  That miracle didn’t come, but instead my family was now faced with a decision I wouldn’t wish on anyone.  Dad’s life had been taken unexpectedly and in an instant our lives had changed forever.  My Father, My Best Friend and My Hero was gone.   What many don’t know is that on that day, Dad became a hero to  other people too, three who had spent the last 10 years praying for their miracle, for the call that would finally remove their name from a list of thousands awaiting a transplant.  And the fourth; a blind man who had lived his entire life in the darkness was being given to gift of sight.  So today, saddened yet proud, I am so honored to have the privilege to call Joe Niekro My Father, My Best Friend and My Hero!    

The Broken Chain

We little knew that day,

God was going to call Your name.

In life we love you dearly,

In death, we do the same.

It broke our hearts to lose you,

You did not go alone.

For part of us went with you,

The day God called you home.

You left us beautiful memories,

Your love is still our guide.

And though we cannot see you,

You are always at our side.

Our family chain is broken,

And nothing seems the same.

But as God calls us one by one,

The chain will link again.

I love you Dad!

The Joe Niekro Foundation and the AZ Fall League…Knuckle Up Together in the fight against aneurysms

http://sportsthenandnow.com/2009/10/19/joe-niekro-foundation-and-arizona-fall-league-partner-to-strike-out-aneurysms/

Written by my dear friend, Bill McCurdy – hope you enjoy!

http://bill37mccurdy.wordpress.com/2009/10/10/the-niekro-family-love-never-forgets-nor-says-goodbye/

Arizona Fall League partners with The Joe Niekro Foundation

I am so excited to announce a fabulous partnership and October promotion with The Arizona Fall League.  Fate has turned it’s hand once again and great things lie ahead.  The week of October 26th is being named Aneurysm Awareness Week, in honor of The Joe Niekro Foundation.  Dad had his aneurysm on 10/26/06 and was kept alive on life support until the following morning at which time he was pronounced brain dead, so the starting date signifies the day of Dad’s aneurysm. Throughout the week of 10/26, $36 will be donated to The Joe Niekro Foundation, for any strike-outs from a pitcher wearing a uniform from one of the teams He played for during his career.  #36 signifies the number Dad wore during the majority of his 22 year baseball career.  These teams include Chicago Cubs, SD Padres, Atlanta Braves, Detroit Tigers, Houston Astros, NY Yankees and Minnesota Twins. At all games throughout this week, microphone announcements will be made throughout each game detailing the promotion and reason behind it.    The announcements will give a total that has been raised to-date on each day, which also gives spectators the chance to hear about the # of strike-outs and who the pitchers were, which is a great way to showcase the player’s talents.  In addition, we will have informational brochures that will be handed out at each game during that week and then I have chosen two night games (6:35) and one day game (12:35P) in which I will be on location to address the crowd and throw out the first pitch. Those games are:

 10/26 – Peoria Sports Complex -6:35P

10/30 – Scottsdale Stadium – 6:35P

10/31 – Good year -12:35P

 Here’s the real kicker…on November 7^th (which also happens to be my Dad’s birthday), there is a nationally televised game on MLB Network at 6:15P in Surprise, which will be the game that we will do the check presentation. 

I am so excited to partner with MLB on this concept and hope that this will be an annual event with the AZ Fall League.  Now, if I could just get this to be something seasonal…that would be a dream come true!  Wish me luck!

There IS crying in baseball

THERE is crying in baseball. Hall of Famer Phil Niekro and his 318 wins and 3,342 strikeouts are proof.

The biggest day of the knuckleballer’s career came 50 years ago when the coal miner’s son sat at the kitchen table and signed a contract with the Milwaukee Braves.

“I got a $500 bonus and jumped all over that,” Niekro said with a laugh.

He started at Class D Wellsville, N.Y., but was soon released.

“I didn’t want to go back home to work in that coal mine, like my dad did, so I was going to do anything to try and stay in the game, and the best I could do right there was cry my eyes out, until they put me somewhere,” he said.

It worked. Niekro was sent to the Nebraska State League, which had a young right-hander named Jim Bouton pitching for the Kearney Yankees. Niekro went 7-1 for McCook.

It really started to come together for Niekro the next season, at Class-A Jacksonville. He credits manager Red Murff for making the difference. Murff later became a scout for the Mets and signed a young Texan and worked with the pitcher to put him on the road to success. That pitcher was Nolan Ryan. Ryan and Niekro piled up 642 wins, throwing from opposite ends of the pitching spectrum.

Niekro, 70, pitched 24 seasons in the majors, including two years with the Yankees, 1984-85, winning 32 games over that span. His brother Joe was in pinstripes in 1985, a special time for the Niekro family as the Yankees won 97 games that season.

“We just missed the playoffs and we were really geared up to win the pennant the next year,” Phil said.

It didn’t happen. The Yankees released Phil in spring training.

Phil posted 121 of his victories after the age of 40, a major league record, according to Elias Sports Bureau. Joe and Phil own the record for the most wins for brothers, an amazing 539 victories.

When Joe passed away from a brain aneurysm three years ago, Phil was devastated.

“There’s not a day goes by that I don’t think of him,” Phil said.

Three words have helped him carry on.

“Whether we hadn’t seen each other for three days or three months, the first thing we always told each other was ‘I love you,’ and those were always the last three words we said to each other,” said Phil, who is active in the Joe Niekro Foundation, devoted to aneurysm research. “That was really the greatest gift he could leave me, those last three words he spoke to me, ‘I love you.’”

Lance Niekro, Joe’s son, played first base with the Giants over parts of four seasons, but he has changed his career path. Lance, 30, is learning to be a knuckleball pitcher now in the Braves organization. The family tradition continues.

Phil owes his success to the pitch his father taught him in the backyard.

“The secret to a knuckleball is patience,” Niekro said. “You’re living with it, you eat it, you drink it, you sleep with it. It’s the knuckleball 24 hours in your head. You got to make the commitment, and you really don’t care what other people think.

“I was called everything you can think of while I was pitching, throwing a ball 65 miles per hour and getting guys out in the big leagues.”

The father of three boys, Phil has two grandchildren. He stays active and participates in Hall of Fame fantasy camps and can still throw the knuckler. He helps coach his 7-year-old grandson’s baseball team. But he has yet to teach the youngster the family secret, how to throw the knuckleball?

“I just coach first,” Phil said. “I just tell them go and stop.”

And if any youngster has a really bad day, he is there to help wipe away the tears. Phil Niekro knows that every once in a while, there is crying in baseball.

kevin.kernan@nypost.com

A Tribute to the Niekro Name and The Knuckleball

Just before my pitch, I was presented with my very own Astros #36 jersey

Robert Moses, Jr, Dr. Robert Grossman and Ron Girotto present The Knuckle Ball plaque

Showing off the Niekro Knuckler

For those of you that didn’t know, I had the opportunity to throw out the first pitch at the Houston Astros game Sunday, September 13th.    I think I shocked many when I not only made it from the mound to the plate without bouncing, but that it was a knuckler straight down the middle.  It did flutter a bit, as it should, and landed directly in Lance Berkman’s glove…the lucky Astro that got to catch the infamous Niekro Knuckler.  Well, I can’t say I threw it like Dad (or even close for that matter), but I can tell you that I did the Niekro name proud.  Just before my pitch, I was introduced and presented with my very own Niekro #36 Astros jersey and a beautiful plaque commemorating The Knuckle Ball…a Pitch for Life.  What an honor it is to represent The Joe Niekro Foundation, the Niekro name and the knuckleball heritage.

My Heart is Heavy

Today, I write this with a bleeding heart as I just learned of a friend’s seven year old son who is in a medically induced coma, due to a sudden ruptured brain aneurysm last week.  Seven years old???  What a reminder of how important the funding for research is so drastically needed.  These enemies are so brutal, taking the lives of thousands each year….and we must do something about it.    At seven years old, this poor boy has his entire life ahead of him…baseball to play, school to attend, birthday parties to celebrate and a world of memories to establish.  My mission continues and the fight gets stronger in this battle against the ugly enemies we call aneurysms.