ATLANTA () -- Former Atlanta Braves' knuckleballer Phil Niekro said he was contacted by a National League club recently to discuss his availability as a potential replacement player during the Major League Baseball strike.


"I would certainly listen, see what's available and what the deal is,'' Niekro said in a telephone interview Wednesday. "I throw a knuckleball at the same speed I did 20 years ago. It still dances.''


Niekro would not name the team he has talked with, saying only that it is an NL team and that he had been asked if he and his brother Joe, 50, also a former major-league pitcher, were interested in playing.