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.

Is it just me or does Claudell Washington look kinda goofy here? Rick Mahler looks like a perfect fit for a southern team with that shave. I’ve always imagined he’s in the middle of telling about a fish he caught earlier this morning or some tractor he fixed last night with his buddies.

When I think of the 1981 Atlanta Braves, I think of the phrase “better late than never”. This is a team that led the National League with 10 extra-inning victories. In fact, when a game went into extra frames, these Braves were 10-4 including 4 saves, which works out to a .714 winning percentage.

Unfortunately Atlanta only had a 40-52 record in games that didn’t go past 9 innings, which works out to a .435 winning percentage. Half of those 40 wins were so close, that they resulted in one of the Braves pitchers earning a save. The starting pitching needed help, as only Phil Niekro was an above average pitcher that year, posting a 116 ERA+.

The bullpen on the other hand, was making the team look respectable. Check out this split—

Interesting eh? The ‘pen was allowing a lot less runs than the starters. What’s weird to me, is that this isn’t just due to the different pitchers. Check out some of these ERA splits for guys who had at least 4 starts and 4 relief appearances—

That’s a huge drop in ERA when they’re coming out of the bullpen instead of starting.

The full time relievers were getting the job done too. Gene Garber put up a fine 2.61 ERA, while Rick Camp had a 1.78 ERA and 17 of the team’s 24 saves. The bullpen was pretty much the whole story of these Atlanta “better late than never” Braves though. Their offense helped, but not that much.

The offense would peak in the 4th to 6th innings. In the first 3 innings, they only slugged .312, but in those middle innings their slugging was suddenly .390. The rest of the game it was back down around .344. So that would help some of the starters as well as a few relievers, so it can’t be seen as a big part of why the Braves won games late.

This was completely lost on the Braves though, as the following year Bob Walk and Rick Mahler combined for 20-19 record on the strength of a 4.56 ERA in 60 starts. If you’re wondering now how they combined for 20 wins with that ERA, it’s because the Braves scored more runs than anybody else in the 1982 National League.

Despite the Braves marching these two relievers to the mound as starters so often during that summer, Atlanta managed to win the NL West by 1 game over the Dodgers. The Braves got swept by the Cardinals in the playoffs and went home. Interestingly though, Atlanta didn’t use Walk or Mahler as starters in that playoff series.

If the team had just signed a couple above average starters before ’82 and left their bullpen alone, I think they might’ve ended up playing the Brewers in the World Series.

Gaylord, left the Yankees after 1980 though and signed with the Atlanta Braves for a one year contract. When spring training opened in 1982 though, future Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry wasn’t signed to any team yet. Being he was just 3 victories short of joining the 300 club, the Topps company was convinced some smart GM would pick him soon and cash in on the opportunity to get an attendance boost from his presence. But who? The cards had to be shipped, so they just made a card with a photo from Perry’s 1981 season.

The photo they chose, strikes me as a man in his older years, content with his place in the game. A little laid back but serious look with a hint of eagerness in his gaze, knowing his best days are behind him but enjoying the ride as long as it’ll last. At the time the picture was taken, perhaps Perry was imagining he might win his 300th game in the same stadium Hank Aaron hit his 715th HR. That would’ve been a nice twist too—a pitching milestone that hasn’t been accomplished in almost 20 years, being done in the same place as a huge hitting milestone.

But Perry’s 1981 was very unimpressive, nothing like his peak years. He’d been fading since he won his 2nd Cy Young in 1978 at the age of 40, and just puttering along like an old sloppy jalopy trying to keep up. From 1979-1981, he was a mere 30-33, with a 3.50 ERA, making him pretty average for that period….105 ERA+. So the Atlanta Braves felt they had better pitchers who could fill his slot in the rotation and let him go.

Eventually, the Seattle Mariners, a team with nothing to lose if Perry didn’t work out, signed him. Perry missed all of spring training, but made his first start for the Mariners on April 9. Less than a month later, on May 6 in Seattle’s Kingdome against the Yankees, he joined the 300 club. He allowed just 3 ER’s in a complete game effort, striking out 4.

By the end of the day, he was just the 15th pitcher to ever achieve this mark and he was 2nd all-time in strikeouts (2nd only to Walter Johnson). He also had a career ERA of exactly 3.00 up through that day, which is interesting since he had only allowed exactly 3 runs in the game, and it was his win # 300.

Some Gaylord Perry stats you won’t find on the back of his 1982 Topps card—

• …he had a 2.96 ERA against the AL West champ California Angels in 1982
• …had a career winning percentage higher on the road than at home, but a higher ERA on the road too.
• …when pitching against the Red Sox, he was 22-5 with a 2.40 ERA.
• …he struck out more Cincinnati Reds (250) than any other team he faced.
• …from 1966-1978, he was 243-176, 2.82 ERA, 2604 K’s, with a 127 ERA+.
• …in 1974 he lead the AL with a 144 ERA+, but was only 4th in the Cy Young voting results.