Steve Palermo
"Joe Niekro Nail File Game - 8-3-87"

I sent a request to Steve Palermo asking him to tell the story on a baseball about the game when he threw out Joe Niekro for using a nail file and scuffing baseballs from his perspective as the second base umpire and this is what I got:

"Umpired 2B. I was the one who first noticed the scuffed balls. We waited & gathered evidence to make sure we weren't accusing Joe without merit. Joe was suspended 10 days & Hrbek never did keep the file from our view. Incident took place in Anaheim-- Ironically, Don Sutton was to pitch for Angels the next day & of course he was known or suspected for defacing the ball."