Portrait of Joe Niekro

Birthday profile

Joe Niekro

Joe Niekro, American baseball player (died 2006)

Born
November 7, 1945
Died
October 27, 2006
Zodiac sign
Scorpio
Birth year
1945

About Joe Niekro

Joseph Franklin Niekro was an American professional baseball pitcher. During a 22-year baseball career, he pitched from 1967 to 1988 for seven different teams, primarily for the Houston Astros. He was the younger brother of pitcher Phil Niekro, and the father of former Major League first baseman Lance Niekro. Niekro allowed six hits in a 7–1 Houston victory that propelled the Astros to their first postseason. On July 2, he won his 200th career game, throwing seven innings against the San Diego Padres and allowing two runs on six hits.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

The world when Joe Niekro was born

Joe Niekro was born in 1945. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1945

  • #1 song"Sentimental Journey" – Les Brown & Doris Day
  • Top movieThe Lost Weekend
  • Best-selling bookAnimal Farm – George Orwell

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentDetroit Tigers win the World Series
  • Top headlineWorld War II ends after atomic bombs dropped on Japan
  • Technology milestoneAtomic bomb developed and detonated (Manhattan Project)
  • Defining fadV-J Day celebrations
  • Notable inventionMicrowave oven (accidental discovery)
  • World population2.40 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderFranklin D. Roosevelt / Harry S. Truman
  • Sports championDetroit Tigers (World Series)
  • U.S. population139.9M

1945 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Joe Niekro's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19452026
Gas$0.21$3.45/gal
Average home$5,900$435,000
Average income$4,100$67,500
Minimum wage$0.40$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.30$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population139.9M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, MLB, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.