Beyond a win on opening day, the Padres’ inaugural 1969 campaign — a 110-loss season — brought few highlights. Joe Niekro’s duel with older brother Phil on this date — July 13 — was one of them, though both had grown weary of such talk of sibling rivalries by the time the Atlanta Braves rolled into San Diego that year.
In fact, the 30-year-old Phil was rather annoyed that the Padres appeared to have gone out of their way to arrange the meeting, which the 24-year-old Joe won 1-0.
“It was an emotional thing for both of us, because we’ve always been so close,” Phil told the San Diego Union after the game.