Phil Niekro

Update from the original post: I made a big trade and ended up trading away this autographed photo of Niekro, removing him from my collection. I'm now on the lookout for a replacement for this signature. I'm sad to see it go, but I think its for the best! Niekro is still living, and perhaps I'll be able to obtain one in person someday (or a smaller 3x5 card like many of my others).

I found this in a local card shop for a reasonable price.  Phil Niekro was an incredible pitcher - one of the last great knuckleballers of the modern era.  "Knucksie" may have had some incredible numbers, but this sharpie signed photo is pretty ridiculous.  From the bowl cut greying hear sticking out of the hat, to the glassy eyes...  it is topped off with the satin jacket tucked in to the road baby-blue 80s pants.  Wow.

Aside from the brilliance/ugliness of this photo, he played for my favorite team, in fact he was the first Blue Jay inducted.

Aside from all of that, I had already received a rejection letter from Niekro informing me that he charges for his signature, making this an easy purchase.

Failure #15: Phil Niekro

The rejection letters just keep rolling in!

I was happy to hear back from Phil Niekro.  Mr. Niekro is one of four players in the Hall of Fame who have played for the Toronto Blue Jays.  Although this was a failed attempt, he was nice enough to include a price list instead of just returning an empty envelope as one of his peers recently did - ahem, ahem...

Mr. Niekro was known for his brilliant use of the knuckle ball, earning him the nickname "Knucksie" because of his ability to get people out with that confusing pitch.

Christmas Wish List

As my list of failed requests continues to grow, a fascinating thing to look at is the various monetary requests given by some of the players.  I've received autographs from seven former players through the mail for free, but some are not quite so generous.

Here is the list as it stands so far...

Rollie Fingers, $10
Brooks Robinson, $37.99 and up (at his website)
Goose Gossage, $20
Whitey Ford, $20
Phil Niekro, $10 and up

Pretty modest requests (and they would certainly be much higher at a sports collectible store), but at this point I just can't justify spending that much on a signature.  Maybe that will change some day.  If anyone would like to donate to help my cause, I'd certainly be grateful!

Toronto Blue Jays in the Hall of Fame

I grew up near Toronto, Ontario, and at the age of 9, the Blue Jays won back to back World World Championships.  It was in that moment that my passion for baseball, and for the Toronto Blue Jays, was really born.

When I originally wrote this post in November 2010 there were only four Blue Jays players in the Hall of Fame. In just the past few years that number has doubled  -

Rickey Henderson
Dave Winfield
Paul Molitor
Phil Niekro
Roberto Alomar
Jack Morris
Frank Thomas
Roy Halladay

Five of them were crucial in the Blue Jay's championship seasons. Halladay is the only one to have been inducted after his death. In addition to these players, there is one manager and one exec who have been inducted who are connected to the team.

Bobby Cox
Pat Gillick

Back in 2010 I didn't have an autograph from any of these players. Since then my collection has added five (linked above), as well as Niekro, who's autograph I had for a moment before trading it away.

Updated January 2020