What a card: This was Phil Niekro's first Topps flagship card in anything other than a Braves uniform. He appears in a Yankees uniform in the 1984 Topps Traded set.
My observation on the front: Obviously, Niekro just got done throwing a knuckler.
More opinion from me: I always hated seeing Niekro in a Yankee uniform. I liked Phil Niekro. Players I liked don't belong on the Yankees.
Something you might know: Niekro won the 300th game of his career with the Yankees, on the last day of the regular season, Oct. 6, 1985. He pitched a 9-inning shutout against the Blue Jays.
Something you might not know: As you may or may not know, I run another set blog, detailing the 1971 Topps set. Niekro is the first player to appear on both blogs.
My observation on the back: I don't think I've seen an abbreviation for Ohio as simply "O." before.
Yeah, I know, a sea of stats, and I focus on a state abbreviation.
The blog wants to speak now: The Ballgames, Music, TV, Pop Culture and News categories have been updated to include, among other things, a certain famous act by coach Bobby Knight.
4 comments:
I will grab something out of that sea of stats: That wonderful 21-20 1979 season. You will never ever ever ever ever see that again.
That 300th win was the first big league game I ever went to. They commemorate it in the '86 set because it was a record breaker - oldest pitcher to throw a shutout.
I thought that you had commented once before about Topps abbreviating Ohio as "O.", but a quick perusal of both the '71 and '85 blogs turned up nothing. I did find one other card in the '85 set with the "O." abbreviation -- #22 Duane Kuiper -- but the use of this abbreviation is not mentioned in your post.
In his 300th win he threw no knucklers til the final batter. It always amazed me he was able to throw a ShO at that age,that way.
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