Night Owl Cards

Trying to pinpoint the years on these Classic cards always befuddles me. All I know is the event depicted is from 1987. (Aug. 3, to be exact ). That's the famous Joe Niekro emery board incident, in which Niekro was accosted on the mound by a team of umpires, asked to empty his back pockets, and when he did -- pushing his hands to the sky in a "I got nothing" gesture -- an emery board sailed out of his pocket. The look of the ump on the right is priceless as he's just spied the evidence fluttering to the ground. The emery board actually wasn't incriminating since knuckle ball pitchers like Niekro need to keep their nails filed. But a tiny piece of sandpaper also plopped out, the umps found scuffed balls, and that's what got him suspended. Video of the incident played everywhere, and Niekro famously appeared on The David Letterman Show, carrying a power sander. I wonder if something like this would be treated as comically today. Sports is so serious now....

I haven't done one of these in a while, so I'll take care of two players in one post. Since they are brothers and I talked to them at the same time, it works perfectly. Phil and Joe Niekro are the most successful brother pitching combination in major league history. Phil Niekro, a.k.a, "Knucksie," is in the Hall of Fame. He is the only Hall of Fame player I have interviewed (although there could be another one coming up. I'll feature him later). Both of them pitched a majorly long time, from the middish '60s until the late 1980s. Phil played for four teams, and Joe pitched for seven. They were teammates both with the Braves in the mid-70s and Yankees in the late '80s. I do not associate either player with the team they are with on this 1988 Topps card. Phil will always be a Brave, and Joe will always be an Astro. For those who like the quirkier aspects of baseball, Phil once won 20 games and lost 20 in the same season. That's when the Braves sucked. B...