Remember Lance Niekro, the Travis Ishikawa of a few years back? The kid with the famous surname bucked the family business and got into hitting. The first base prospect that never really developed but got a big league shot anyway because, hey, we can't sign a 63 year-old Andres Galarraga to another contract, right?
Anyway, after a brief retirement, he's back. As a knuckleballer.
Niekro, who as recently as 2006 was vying to become the Giants' everyday first baseman, is exiting a brief retirement from baseball and will attempt a comeback at age 30 as a right-handed knuckleball pitcher for the Atlanta Braves.As for all players trying to make a mid-career position switch, I'll be rooting hard for the guy. The fact that he's a former Giant and a knuckleballer makes it way cooler.
The Braves have signed Niekro to a minor-league contract and will bring him to spring training to see if he can extend the legacy of his late father, Joe, and his uncle Phil and make his living floating baseballs to major-league hitters.
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5 comments:
speaking of wayward careers, i have a bad feeling about K-Fran...
As a lifelong Braves fan, it's great to have a Niekro back in the system. As a current Braves fan, I'm worried that a minor-league deal for a legacy who may or may not be able to throw a ML-quality knuckler is what I have to get excited about.
This has been a brutal offseason for Atlanta. We don't even have a Jeremy Affeldt-style pickup to hang our hats on...
Well, according to this assessment of Braves management, you may have even less to hang your hats on than you previously thought (not sure about that metaphor, but I digress):
John Schuerholz traded me. He's a real a**hole. I'm gonna absolutely crucify him in my book. The credibility that guy receives for the Atlanta Braves dynasty ... he is an imbecile. Every player who took that team to the playoffs were people who were already there. All his good acquisitions were no-brainers. Scheurholz tries to take all the credit, but he's a complete moron. It's amazing he gets so much credit for it. We had a bad arbitration case, he and I. He just sat there and mother****ed me to death, you suck, you're horrible, and I lost the case. I never spoke to him again. He'd walk right by me and say, "Hi, John," and I'd just ignore him. He has the worst case of Little Man Syndrome I've ever met. He's about 5-foot-5. He's a piece of s***.
- John Rocker, to Deadspin in 2006
I recall begging for a Niekro appearance out of the 'pen when he was here just so I could see that knuckler take flight.
I wish him the best in trying to learn a new position (and it's only the toughest one possible) at the tender age of 30.
Go get 'em, Lance.
Nice example H-Naz, I think anybody that Rocker defames gets an automatic boost into the "Guys that I think are probably a lot smarter than John Rocker" category. And yes, said category is very, very crowded.
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