Jimmy Scott's High & Tight: The Natalie Niekro Interview

Imagine you were a little kid and one day you realize your dad is more than just a regular dad, he's a Major League Baseball player.  Now imagine that he's not only a player, but he's also pretty good.  And interestingly, his brother is also a big leaguer.  It's totally natural to fly around the country with a bunch of other players and their wives and kids.  It's totally natural to live in two places each year.  It's totally natural to have a baseball diamond as your playground.  Think that would be cool?

Natalie Niekro grew up in that life.  As the daughter of Joe Niekro, she spent much of her childhood around baseball.  In his 22 years on big league mounds throwing a knuckleball, Joe won 221 games, including two 20-win seasons.  He pitched the Houston Astros to their first playoff appearance as a franchise.  And he won a World Series in his last full season with the Minnesota Twins in 1987.  Natalie was there for it all.

She was also there when it was over.  Her parents split up eventually.  Joe spent lots of time with son Lance, who would one day be a big leaguer himself.  Joe helped his brother, Hall of Famer Phil Niekro, coach the women's professional baseball team, the Colorado Silver Bullets.  And he was a regular dad.

Natalie and her dad had a long three-hour phone conversation on the evening of October 25th, 2006.  It was one of those heart-to-heart talks that happen sometimes between an adult child and parent.  The next day, Joe went shopping for a tuxedo to wear to Natalie's upcoming wedding.  He developed a splitting headache that wouldn't go away.  The doctor said to go to the hospital, tell them he's having chest pains, and they'll admit you.  He did that.  The heart was fine, but the headache was still there.  Then, it slowly disappeared. 

The doctor said he'd be back for one more vital signs check and then Joe could go home.  Moments later, Joe screamed in pain.  "I feel like my brain is bleeding!" he said.  And it was.  Joe Niekro was suffering from a brain aneurysm.  He lost consciousness and never woke up.  After a short stint on life support, Joe Niekro died on October 27th, 2006.

Now imagine if that was your dad.  And knowing that your dad had a name that lots of people knew and died of something that lots of people didn't know anything about, imagine if you decided to change that.  Would you? 

Natalie Niekro decided to do something.  She formed The Joe Niekro Foundation and dedicated its purpose to funding research so that detection methods could be developed to find aneurysms before they rupture.  As Natalie writes, "It is my mission to discover a detection method, available to the public, so that thousands of lives can be saved from this silent killer." 

Natalie isn't throwing on a lab coat and spending all of her days with a chemistry set.  She's using The Joe Niekro Foundation to raise the awareness, raise lots of money, and let the experts discover the treatments. 

How is she raising money?  You can go to the website and DONATE if you wish.  Or you can wait for the next Knuckle Ball.  This is a big event held at Minute Maid Park in Houston.  The 2009 Knuckle Ball raised close to $450,000 for aneurysm research. 

Want to know more?  Then stop reading and start listening to the Jimmy Scott's High & Tight Interview with Natalie Niekro.  She tells it all with grace and dignity.  As you hear her words, imagine that this was happening to you.  What would you do?

So sit back, listen, and feel something.

THE MUSIC

All music for this interview was taken from two sources.  The first is Paul Simon's solo album, Still Crazy After All These Years.  Highlighted tracks include:

My Little Town

Night Game

Have A Good Time

You're Kind

Gone At Last

The second source is George Winston's piano album, December.

You'll hopefully find both are appropriate.