On this date in baseball history, a couple of events occurred.

  • On this day in 1976, Joe Niekro hits his only career HR off his brother Phil Niekro.
  • On this day in 1989, Mike Schmidt retired from baseball.

Phil vs. Joe Niekro:

In a game between the Houston Astros and the Atlanta Braves, the Niekro brothers would counterpart each other for the fifth time in their careers. Both brothers were Knuckleballers which contributed to their long pitching careers. Also, both brothers pitched in the NL for most of their careers, meaning they would hit. Before the game, the brothers had faced each other one time prior. However, this game was about something other than their pitching. In his twenty-two-year career, Joe only hit one homerun. Guess the pitcher hit it off? His brother Phil. What are the odds?

Mike Schmidt calls it a career:

To this day, Mike Schmidt isn’t only the greatest third baseman of all time but remains the greatest Philadelphia Phillie ever. By 1988, Schmidt’s days as a ballplayer were numbered due to injuries to his rotator cuff. After missing a big chunk of 1988, he came back in 1989 but just wasn’t anywhere near the player he once was. On May 29th, in San Diego, Schmidt decided there would be no more and announced his retirement. Being none as a guy who was emotionless during his career, he shocked the world with a tearful press conference. His last game was the day before against the San Francisco Giants. The fans voted for him to start the All-Star game that year, but he declined to play but did participate in the ceremony. ”I left Dayton, Ohio, with two bad knees and a dream of becoming a baseball player; I thank God it came true.” – Mike Schmidt