Joe Niekro, American baseball player (d. 2006)
Joseph Franklin Niekro ( NEE-kroh; November 7, 1944 – October 27, 2006) was an American Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. He was the younger brother of pitcher Phil Niekro, and the father of former Major League first baseman Lance Niekro. Niekro was born in Martins Ferry, Ohio, and attended Bridgeport High School in Bridgeport, Ohio and West Liberty University in West Liberty, West Virginia. During a 22-year baseball career, he pitched from 1967 to 1988 for seven different teams, primarily for the Houston Astros.