The Reason

Joe Niekro was part of the fabric of major league baseball for a very long time. He pitched from 1967 to 1988, 22 seasons, notching 221 wins. He was also one of the most successful knuckleball pitchers of his era.

Niekro was born Nov. 7, 1944, in Martins Ferry, Ohio. He was drafted in the third round by the Chicago Cubs in 1966 and was in the majors by 1967, going 10-7 as a 22-year-old rookie.

Niekro used a fastball and slider in his first few years in the majors, going 24-17 with the Cubs in 1967-68. Niekro spent 1969-74 with the Cubs, Padres, Tigers and Braves.

It was in Atlanta he started working seriously on the knuckleball which his father had taught him and his older brother, Phil, was using with great success. Mastering the pitch would lead to the most successful seasons of his career.

Joe Niekro is mostly remembered for his days with the Houston Astros, which he joined at the age of 30 at the beginning of the 1975 season after being purchased from the Braves. Over half his career innings and wins came with the Astros.

He notched 20+ victories two times during that span, when he was 34 and 35 years old in 1979 and 1980. In 1979, Niekro led the National League in Wins and Shutouts and was largely responsible for leading the Astros to the NLCS playoffs.

In 1979, when the Astros contended until the final week of the season for the National League West Division title, Niekro was 21-11, tying for the National League lead in victories with his brother, Phil. The next year, Niekro was 20-12, becoming the first Houston pitcher to win 20 games in a season twice.

Niekro retired in 1988 with a lifetime record of 221-204. Post retirement, Niekro spent his time devoted to helping his son Lance pursue his baseball career, never missing one of Lance’s practices or games. Joe’s effort paid off; in 2000 Lance was drafted in the 2nd round by the San Francisco Giants where he played for seven years, followed by The Houston Astros and Atlanta Braves.

Joe, along with his brother Phil, hold the record for the most wins by two brothers, with 539, in the history of baseball and Joe holds the record of the winningest pitcher in Houston Astros history. In 2005, Niekro was inducted into the Texas Hall of Fame.

On October 26th, 2006, Niekro suffered a brain aneurysm and lost his life the following day. Today his legacy lives on through The Joe Niekro Foundation, founded and run by his daughter Natalie.

Patient & Survivor Stories

Hi. My name is Chris and I’m writing to tell my story of how my life was interrupted by something I had really never heard of.

It was the early morning of April 12, 2003 and my family had left for Las Vegas the day before to spend the weekend with friends. I heard the newspaper hit the front porch around sunrise that Saturday morning and I was anxious to get an early start to the day because it was Game 1 of the hockey playoffs.
Being from Detroit, I was very anxious to see the Wings beat the Anaheim Ducks. Well, I proceeded to open the front door to retrieve my paper. As I did this, I noticed my friend Ryan going to his place. He and his family lived straight across from us. I reminded him that the hockey was coming on at 10:00 a.m. and invited him over for some breakfast. As we were discussing who was going to win the game, (he being from California and my being from Detroit), I finished cooking breakfast, handed him a plate and asked if he wanted a vitamin with his breakfast? I opened the cupboard to get a vitamin and that’s when I collapsed.

I guess I opened my eyes once I collapsed and as I looked up saw my friend who asked “Chris, are you alright?” I wondered why he was saying this and that’s when I first realized I was on my back on our kitchen floor with an awful pain in my head. It was as if someone was hitting me in the head with a sledge hammer. I started to verbalize how bad the pain was and somehow managed to rise to my feet. I got so nauseated and staggered to the kitchen sink where I stood slumped over, screaming because of the pain.

Then I instantly began to sweat, as if someone turned on a faucet. Needless to say, I was in very bad shape. I just staggered through the kitchen to the front room fell on the couch as Ryan was calling 911. I was rushed to Kaiser Permanente ER. There, they somehow communicated to me that I needed to sign authorization for a spinal tap! They didn’t tell me why, but very scared I refused and told them to find my family. After my family told them to do the procedure, I was taken into a room where they did the spinal tap and found that my brain was bleeding. I was told I had to go straight to surgery. I replied, “not without my Bible and my family.” They knew I was serious so they obviously put me out and monitored me closely until my family arrived, with my Bible (true story).

They did a procedure called coiling, entering through the main artery in my groin and traveling up my side, finding the ruptured artery and repairing it with coils.

I spent the next several days in intensive care, which is where I learned what I had experienced was a brain aneurysm. They explained the vein that burst in my head was the biggest vein in the head. It was the right giant communicating aneurysm.

When I left ICU and returned home, it took me some months to return close to myself. I have to say that the Lord is great, praise God. I know he had me in the palm of his hands the entire time; including sending (who I believe was my angel, my friend Ryan, who just happened to be walking outside my door at 5:00 a.m. that morning). In 12 years, I had never seen Ryan that early coming home after being out all night.

I also have the best mom and sister a son and brother could ask for. They’ve always been there to help, support and love me, even in the days when I probably didn’t deserve it.

I love my family and my life and I do hope people really know without the Lord, nothing is possible, but with him, everything is possible. This event was major and I’m living proof of his love and grace.

Forever grateful for this second chance,
Chris – Fountain Hills, AZ

I had a brain aneurysm clipping in 1977. Fortunately I survived with no serious complications but when this happens it is always on your mind. I have been looking for a support group for a long time and one morning I happened to be watching channel 12 and here was Natalie talking about the Joe Niekro Foundation. I got so excited that she was starting to hold meetings in the Phoenix area I immediately joined. It is so wonderful talking to people who have gone through a similar situation and we have just begun!!! This means so much to me because of late I have had some things happening to me after all this time and it has been a concern to me. I have also discovered things that I have experienced over the years are symptoms that other people have had that I thought it was just me but no it is a result of my surgery. I feel very blessed to be a part of this group and look forward to it growing.

Alma – Glendale, AZ