Phil Niekro
Niekro holds or shares 13 Atlanta Braves pitching records. His 318 career victories rank 14th in history. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1997.
“I was surprised and shocked when I was diagnosed,” Niekro says. “Like most people, you think, ‘That’s not gonna happen to me.’ But it did. You’ll never know unless you go and find out. My wife, Nancy, said, ‘We’ll get through this,’ and we did. I got the treatments, took care of it and it’s OK now.
“Not only Nancy, but my boys, my grandchildren, my friends, my neighbors sent their well wishes and their prayers and their thoughts that I’d get through, telling me I wasn’t the only one this ever happened to. You just gotta accept it and follow the doctor’s orders and it was taken care of. Those men who think it can’t happen to them? It can. So, go ahead and get your checkups and find out.”
