1. Late Night: June 25, 1984. Phil's only panel with Dave. 2. Late Show: July 23, 2003. Phil participates in a Top Ten list honoring ten of Baseball's Hall of Famers.
Thanks so much for sharing this! Phil Niekro was a childhood favorite, having grown up watching him pitch in Atlanta. Many of those HoF players who presented the Top 10 list are gone now. RIP Knucksie.
Awww, I just heard of Niekro's passing today by seeing this in my recommended list. A boyhood hero and adulthood hero; I thought he'd be in someone's starting rotation until his sixties... I still thought he might be able to go 10-8 if someone would sign him at 80. RIP Phil; you reminded us that you're never too old.
We’re all aging, but losing three of these Top Ten HOFer/list readers in one year - ‘20, for you future viewers - is a lump-in-throat mortality moment. (The WSJ this week noted more MLBers passed in ‘20 than any other year in four decades.) RIP, Franchise, Hoot and Knucksie. You hit for the cycle with this one, Don. Thanks. And kudos to Dave, clearly a staunch ball fan from his midwestern childhood and adolescence, regardless of whether he downplays it for laughs in some early segments. You might even have the number logged somewhere, but NBC Dave in particular seemed to delight in spotlighting some of the game’s iconic figures.
I believe the hat Dave gave him is from Milwaukee’s yearly music festival called Summerfest. I’m born and raised and that logo on the front was the one they used. Plus it looks like it says Summerfest on the top of it. Very cool!
Thanks for uploading, Don! I love classic sports and when Dave would have these old-timers on. Was there a bigger gap between guest appearances on Letterman than Phil's 19 years and a little change? I'd be surprised if there wasn't a 20 or even 25 year gap with somebody. Scratch that: I just thought of one: Bob Dylan.
Sadly, 7 of the 10 Hall of Famers in this clip have now passed on. R.I.P. Lou Brock, Harmon Killebrew, Ralph Kiner, Bob Feller, Bob Gibson, Phil Niekro and Gary Carter
When a third strike occurs and the ball gets away from the catcher (a “passed ball”), the batter can run to first base. All too often the catcher will recover quickly enough and throw the batter out. But occasionally the batter will reach the base safely. His time at bat is still recorded as a strikeout, but the inning continues without an actual “out.” In this scenario, Niekro had struck out three batters, one of whom reached first base on the catcher’s passed ball. He then struck out a fourth within the same inning.
One of the first three would involve a passed ball or wild pitch, allowing the batter to reach first base. Then a fourth strikeout within the same inning.
