My First Cards

Knuckleballer Phil Niekro was a white haired 43 year old on the 21-day disabled list who was actually older than his manager, when the Braves started their season in ’82. He’d injured his ribs and achillies tendon during spring training.

Joe Torre, in his first season as the Braves manager, had seen Niekro pitch back when Joe played for the Braves years earlier. He’d not only batted against him, but he’d also managed against him. So Joe wasn’t fooled by Phil’s sub-500 record (43-45) over the past 3 seasons. Phil’s ERA was just 3.43 during those seasons, his record was sub-par only because the Braves weren’t very good as a team those years.. He knew what Phil Niekro could still do on the mound for Atlanta.

It’s a good thing Joe could see it too, as Phil went on to lead the majors in winning percentage for the season with an .810 %, helping the Braves to the playoffs for the first time in 13 years.

In his first 5 starts after he came off the DL though, the potent Braves offense wasn’t giving him much to work with.

So Phil didn’t usually have more than a couple runs to work with. After this though, he’d go on a fine 9-2 stretch with a 2.93 ERA from May 18-July 5, 1982.

A little later in July, he earned his 250th career victory when the 2nd place Padres came to visit 1st place Atlanta. After the game, he was quoted as saying, “It’s not a win for me. It’s another game to keep us in first place.”

They were up by 9 games, but Phil’s priorities remained clear, and he was speaking with his knuckleball as loud as with his mouth. He wanted the NL West for his team.

As the summer progressed, he had his ups and downs like any pitcher, but towards the end of the year, the Dodgers caught up in the standings and by the beginning of September 27, the Braves were 1 GB in the division.

That night, in San Francisco, Phil was starting for the Braves. Once again, he showed his focus and shutout the Giants for his 1st shutout of the year, while Los Angeles was beaten by Cincinnati. His shutout, put Atlanta in a tie for 1st place, with 6 games left on the schedule.

His next, and final start of the season, was on Oct 1, in San Diego. Coming into this game, his team was 1 game up on the Dodgers. That night, Phil proceeded to pitch a near perfect game against the Padres, allowing only 3 baserunners. San Diego wasn’t a bad team that year either, so that wasn’t easy.

With the Dodgers also winning that night, 43 year old Phil Niekro’s determination, kept the Braves in 1st place on their way to their only playoff appearance between 1969 and 1991.

For the season, he went 17-4 and won the NL gold glove. He probably could’ve won 20, considering he had 3 no decisions where he’d allowed 1 run or less and also spent 2-3 weeks on the DL. If he’d won 20, he might’ve won the Cy Young award. None of that mattered to him though; All he wanted, was to get his team into the playoffs.