| Gaylord Perry | ||
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| Starting Pitcher | ||
| Born: September 15 1938 | ||
| Batted: Right | Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | ||
| April 14, 1962 for the San Francisco Giants |
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| Final game | ||
| October 2, 1983 for the Kansas City Royals |
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| Career statistics | ||
| Win-Loss | 314-265 | |
| ERA | 3.11 | |
| Strikeouts | 3534 | |
| Teams | ||
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| Career highlights and awards | ||
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| Member of the National | ||
 Baseball Hall of Fame |
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| Elected | 1991 | |
| Vote | 77.2% | |
Gaylord Jackson Perry (born September 15 1938 in Williamston, North Carolina) is a former right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball and a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. Notorious for doctoring baseballs (throwing a spitball), Perry won 314 games over a 22-year career starting in 1962. A five-time All-Star, he was the first pitcher to win the Cy Young Award in each league, winning it in 1972 with the Cleveland Indians and in 1978 with the San Diego Padres. He is also distinguished, along with his brother Jim, for being the second-winningest brother combination in baseball history--second only to the knuckleballing Niekro brothers, Phil and Joe. While pitching for the Seattle Mariners, Perry defeated the New York Yankees on May 6, 1982 to become the fifteenth member of the 300 win club for pitchers, but the first since Early Wynn did it in 1963. In 1983, he became the third pitcher in the same year to surpass longtime strikeout king Walter Johnson's record of 3,509 strikeouts. Steve Carlton and Nolan Ryan were the others. Despite Perry's notoriety for doctoring baseballs, and perhaps even more for making batters think he was throwing them on a regular basis--he even went so far as to title his 1974 autobiography Me and the Spitter--(co-authored by Cleveland baseball newspaper writer Bob Sudyk, ISBN 0841502994) he wouldn't be ejected for the illegal practice until August 23, 1982, in his 21st season in the majors. Perry also reportedly approached the makers of Vaseline about endorsing the product and was allegedly rebuffed with a one-line postcard reading, "We soothe babies' backsides, not baseballs." Former Manager Gene Mauch famously quipped "He should be in the Hall of Fame with a tube of KY Jelly attached to his plaque." Like most pitchers, Perry was not renowned for his hitting ability, and in his sophomore season of 1963, he is said to have joked, "They'll put a man on the moon before I hit a home run." Other variants on the story say that someone else said it about him, but either way, on July 20 1969, just minutes after the Apollo 11 spacecraft carrying Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon, Perry hit the first home run of his career.[1]
Contents |
Early life
Pitching style
Professional career
Minor leagues
Perry was signed by the San Francisco Giants on June 3 1958 for $90,000, which was a big contract at the time. He spent 1958 with the St. Cloud, Minnesota team in Class A Northern League, compiling a 9-5 record and a 2.39 ERA. In 1959 he was promoted to the Class AA Corpus Christi Giants, where he posted a less impressive 10-11 record and 4.05 ERA. He remained with the team as they became the Rio Grande Valley Giants in 1960, and an improved ERA of 2.82 earned him a promotion to the Class AAA Tacoma Rainiers for the 1961 season. At Tacoma, he lead the Pacific Coast League in wins and inning pitched in 1961.[2] He had a brief call-up to the Major Leagues in 1962, making his debut on April 14 against the Cincinnati Reds. He appeared in 13 games in 1962, but had a high 5.23 ERA and was sent back down to Tacoma for the remainder of the year.[2]
San Francisco Giants (1962-71)
After his brief call-up in 1962, Perry joined the Giants in 1963 to work mostly as a relief pitcher that year, posting a mediocre 4.03 ERA in 31 appearances. Nevertheless, in 1964 he was given the opportunity to join the starting rotation, finishing with a 2.75 ERA and a 12-11 record, both second best for the Giants that year behind Juan Marichal. In 1965 his record was 8-12, and with two full seasons as a starter, his 24-30 record attracted little national attention.[2] Perry's breakout season came in 1966 with a tremendous start, going 20-2 into August. Perry and Marichal became known as a "1-2 punch" to rival the famous Koufax/Drysdale combination of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Perry played in his first All-Star game, but after August, he slumped the rest of the season, finishing 21-8, and the Giants finished second to the Dodgers. Marichal missed much of the 1967 season with a leg injury, and Perry was thrust into the role of team ace. While he finished the season with a disappointing 15-17 record, but had a low ERA and allowed only 7 hits per 9 innings pitched.[3] At Candlestick Park on September 17, 1968, two days after his 30th birthday, Perry, pitched a 1-0 no-hitter over the St. Louis Cardinals and Bob Gibson. The lone run was on a home run by light-hitting Ron Hunt—the second of the only two he would hit the entire season. The very next day, the Cardinals returned the favor on the Giants on a 2-0 no-hitter by Ray Washburn—the first time in Major League history that back-to-back no-hitters had been pitched in the same series.[3] In 1969, Perry led the league in innings, The Giants finished second in the pennant race for the fifth straight season. He took over as the Giants' ace in 1970, and lead the league both in wins (23) and innings pitched (328). Perry's strong 1970 performance salvaged the Giants season, helping them finish above .500 but in third place. In 1971, the Giants finally won their division, with Perry posting a 2.76 ERA. In what would be his only two postseason appearances, Perry won one game and lost the other against the Pittsburgh Pirates.[4]
Cleveland Indians (1972-75)
Before the 1972 season, the Giants traded the then 32-year-old Perry and shortstop Frank Duffy for 28-year-old flamethrower Sam McDowell. After that trade Perry went on to win 180 more games in his career while McDowell won only 24 more. Perry went 24-16 in 1972 with a 1.92 ERA and 1 save, winning his first Cy Young award. He stood as the only Cy Young winner for Cleveland until 2007 (C. C. Sabathia). Perry continued as Cleveland's staff ace until 1975. He went 70-57 during his time in Cleveland, but the team never finished above 4th place. Perry accounted for 39% of all Cleveland wins during his tenure. Tensions between him and player-manager Frank Robinson led to Perry's trade to Texas in June 1975. Gaylord Perry remains as Cleveland's last 20-game winner (21 wins in 1974).
Texas Rangers (1975-77)
San Diego Padres (1978-79)
Before the 1978 season San Diego acquired Perry from Texas in exchange for middle reliever Dave Tomlin and $125,000. The 39-year old Perry wound up winning the Cy Young Award going 21-6 for San Diego while the 29-year-old Tomlin never pitched for Texas and pitched barely 150 innings the rest of his career.
New York Yankees (1980)
Atlanta Braves (1981)
Seattle Mariners/Kansas City Royals (1982-83)
Post-playing career
Perry retired in 1983 after pitching for eight teams (the San Francisco Giants, Cleveland Indians, Texas Rangers, San Diego Padres, New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves, Seattle Mariners and Kansas City Royals). It was during his time with Seattle that he kicked noted Second City actor Jim Zulevic out of a late night party in a Chicago hotel. Despite his admission of illegal pitches he was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1991 and was nominated as a finalist for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. In 1999 The Sporting News ranked him 97th on their list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players. On July 23 2005 the San Francisco Giants retired his uniform number 36.
Pitching statistics
Perry is one of four pitchers to win the Cy Young for both the American and National League (Pedro Martinez, Roger Clemens, & Randy Johnson being the others). He held the record for most consecutive 15-win season since 1900 with 13 (1966-1978) and was 2nd all-time to Cy Young, who had 15 (1891-1905). Greg Maddux surpassed both men, with 17 in a row (1988-2004).
See also
- 300 win club
- 3000 strikeout club
- List of Major League Baseball leaders in career wins
- List of Major League Baseball wins champions
- List of Major League Baseball wins champions
- MLB All-Time Hit Batsmen List
- Top 100 strikeout pitchers of all time
- List of Major League Baseball no-hitters
References
- ^ On the validity of the man on the moon comment
- ^ a b c MacKay, Joe (2003). The Great Shutout Pitchers: Twenty Profiles of a Vanishing Breed. McFarland & Company, 177-178.
- ^ a b MacKay, 179
- ^ MacKay, 180
External links
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or The Baseball Cube
- baseballhalloffame.org – Hall of Fame biography page
- Giants Retire Perry's Number 36
| Preceded by Juan Marichal |
Major League Player of the Month June, 1966 |
Succeeded by Mike Shannon |
| Preceded by Tom Seaver Steve Carlton |
National League Wins Champion 1970 (with Bob Gibson) 1978 |
Succeeded by Ferguson Jenkins Joe Niekro & Phil Niekro |
| Preceded by Mickey Lolich |
American League Wins Champion 1972 (with Wilbur Wood) |
Succeeded by Wilbur Wood |
| Preceded by Vida Blue |
American League Cy Young Award 1972 |
Succeeded by Jim Palmer |
| Preceded by Steve Carlton |
National League Cy Young Award 1978 |
Succeeded by Bruce Sutter |
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| Lonborg • McLain • Cuellar • J. Perry • Blue • G. Perry • Palmer • Hunter • Lyle • Guidry • Flanagan • Stone • Fingers • Vuckovich • Hoyt • Hernández • Saberhagen • Clemens • Viola • Welch • Eckersley • McDowell • Cone • Johnson • Hentgen • Martínez • Zito • Halladay • Santana • Colón • Sabathia |
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| McCormick • Gibson • Seaver • Jenkins • Carlton • Marshall • Jones • Perry • Sutter • Valenzuela • Denny • Sutcliffe • Gooden • Scott • Bedrosian • Hershiser • Davis • Drabek • Glavine • Maddux • Smoltz • Martínez • Johnson • Gagné • Clemens • Carpenter • Webb • Peavy |
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| Cy Young · Walter Johnson · Christy Mathewson · Grover Cleveland Alexander · Warren Spahn · Pud Galvin · Kid Nichols · Roger Clemens* · Greg Maddux* · Tim Keefe · Steve Carlton · John Clarkson · Eddie Plank · Nolan Ryan · Don Sutton · Phil Niekro · Gaylord Perry · Tom Seaver · Charles Radbourn · Mickey Welch · Tom Glavine* · Lefty Grove · Early Wynn |
| * denotes active pitcher |
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