Fifty years ago this spring, he had just turned 19…a year removed from high school graduation at Bridgeport.

“I was still playing (right here) in the sandlot leagues,” Phil Niekro recalls. One of the most heralded athletes in Bulldogs’ history, Niekro realized he possessed some ability. Just how much, however, was anyone’s guess.

“I was playing for Blaine, Barton, the Cave Club, and pretty much unsure of my future,” he recalled.

Phil was experimenting with a pitch taught him and brother Joe by their father in the family’s backyard.

“I remember the Milwaukee Braves advertising for tryouts on Wheeling Island and I thought I should check it out,” Phil related.

There, Phil met Braves’ scout Bill Maughn who was so impressed with the kid’s knuckleball he offered Niekro a $500 signing bonus.

“I was pretty excited and remember going home where mom cooked all of us a good Polish dinner that night,” Phil smiled.

The Braves shipped Niekro to Waycross, Georgia and Phil quickly realized he was little more than a face in the crowd.

“Must have been 300 or so players there, and 90 of them were pitchers,” Niekro explained. “I’m just a nervous young kid from the coal mining communities of eastern Ohio wondering to myself, ‘what chance do I have…if any?'”

A big league career that began in 1964 resulted in 318 career wins, 3,342 strikeouts and for the coup de grace, induction in 1997 into baseball’s Hall of Fame at Cooperstown.

“I remember one of my first coaches at ‘A’ ball in Jacksonville (Fla.) telling me if I could throw the knuckleball over the plate with a degree of consistency, I had a decent shot of pitching in the majors,” Phil related.

During a meet and greet autograph session with hundreds of valley supporters Sunday at Wheeling Downs, Niekro expressed gratitude to his alma mater and the countless friendships he’s retained through the years with area folks.

“I wouldn’t have wanted to grow up in any other era,” he acknowledged. “Of course if I were playing today, I’d sure enjoy going to the bank every two weeks!”

The sudden loss of brother Joe who succumbed to an aneurysm in October of 2006, was especially difficult for Phil. The brothers combined for 539 major league victories.

Today, Phil still makes periodic return trips home to be by his ailing 93-year-old mother, Ivy’s side.

For a guy who turned 69 last week, Phil is in good spirits and great health. “It’s always nice coming home to my roots,” Phil stressed. “I’ve had the good fortune to travel all over the country and I can assure you, there’s no other place like this valley. It’s really someplace special.”

EXTRA BASES

IT WOULD be nice for a change if we could get a down-to-the-wire NCAA championship game tonight in San Antonio. There have been an inordinate amount of blowouts this tournament season. Only two of this year’s Sweet 16 games could be considered close encounters and that includes West Virginia’s four-point overtime loss to Xavier. The other being Kansas’ two-point survival vs. Davidson.

Both of this past weekend’s semis in the Final Four were decided by15 points or better. Though I have the Jayhawks prevailing in a couple of popular Big Dance brackets, I’m not so sure an oft-times maligned Memphis club doesn’t get it done tonight…

MAKE no mistake, Ohio State’s NIT title-winning run will prove beneficial to Thad Matta’s program. Who knows how long the Bucks would have lasted in the Dance? Instead, OSU received an invaluable opportunity to play an extended postseason, beating some quality opponents along the way…

IN CASE you missed it, Steubenville’s Paul Hoover hammered a single and double for Florida in the Marlins’ 9-2 Sunday loss to the Pirates. And Beallsville’s Dustin Nippert, recently traded by the Diamondbacks to Texas, remains on the Rangers’ roster, though the ex-Blue Devil was roughed up in a shaky relief stint last Friday night in Anaheim. Entering in the ninth inning with Texas leading the L.A. Angels 11-0, Nippert surrendered five runs and six hits in just two-thirds of an inning before being replaced. Texas did prevail, 11-6…..

Gibson can be reached at rgibson@timesleaderonline.com