Chris Jaffe at the Hardball Times notes that today is the 25th anniversary of Joe Niekro being caught doctoring a baseball.

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/blog_article/25th-anniversary-joe-niekros-nail-file/

Coupla thoughts....

- I never realized he was caught by St. Paul native Tim Tschida

- I wonder what the fallout would be today for being caught cheating in this way today? In general, I think their is heightened reaction to "cheating" of any kind, as evidenced by the furor surrounding Sammy Sosa's corked bat incident. But this was just so goofy and semi-lovable. I don't remember much indigtation about it. I wonder if there would be today.

I remember it well, those were the fun times in basball, the way baseball was suppose to be played.

Yup, a truly hilarious and memorable moment, overshadowing the Rat's big game.

People take this kids game far too seriously these days. I'm sure there would be a Congressional inquiry.

Hrbek was supposed to put his foot on it. Too slow on the pickup there.

Couple things:

1. I was at that game, sitting in the top deck at The Big A behind home plate. I could see something fly out of his hand from that distance.

2. Technically, he wasn't caught altering the ball. He was ejected for having the file (a foreign object) while on the mound. He was given the automatic 10 day suspension for violating that rule, not for altering baseballs. BTW...the Twins ended up winning that game, beating Mike Witt.

My wife and I were at that game, sitting on the 1B side. Great view of the "action". Also saw something fly through the air when he took his hand out of his pocket. Angels were crushing him - bet they wish he hadn't been tossed. Great times...