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{{Infobox MLB player
Hi Cody
|name=Gaylord Perry
Do you like Pie?
|image=GaylordPerryFlickr.jpg
|position=[[Pitcher]]
|bats=Right
|throws=Right
|birth_date={{Birth date and age|1938|9|15}}
|birth_place=[[Williamston, North Carolina]]
|debutdate=April 14
|debutyear=1962
|debutteam=San Francisco Giants
|finaldate=October 2
|finalyear=1983
|finalteam=Kansas City Royals
|stat1label=[[Win–loss record (pitching)|Win–loss record]]
|stat1value=314–265
|stat2label=[[Earned run average]]
|stat2value=3.11
|stat3label=[[Strikeout]]s
|stat3value=3,534
|teams=<nowiki></nowiki>
* [[San Francisco Giants]] ({{By|1962}}–{{By|1971}})
* [[Cleveland Indians]] ({{By|1972}}–{{By|1975}})
* [[Texas Rangers (baseball)|Texas Rangers]] ({{By|1975}}–{{By|1977}})
* [[San Diego Padres]] ({{By|1978}}–{{By|1979}})
* [[Texas Rangers (baseball)|Texas Rangers]] ({{By|1980}})
* [[New York Yankees]] ({{By|1980}})
* [[Atlanta Braves]] ({{By|1981}})
* [[Seattle Mariners]] ({{By|1982}}–{{By|1983}})
* [[Kansas City Royals]] ({{By|1983}})
|highlights=<nowiki></nowiki>
* 5× [[Major League Baseball All-Star Game|All-Star]] ([[1966 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|1966]], [[1970 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|1970]], [[1972 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|1972]], [[1974 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|1974]], [[1979 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|1979]])
* 1972 [[Cy Young Award|AL Cy Young Award]]
* 1978 [[Cy Young Award|NL Cy Young Award]]
* Pitched a [[no-hitter]] on September 17, 1968
* [[San Francisco Giants#Retired numbers|San Francisco Giants #36]] retired
|hofdate={{By|1991}}
|hofvote=77.2%
}}
'''Gaylord Jackson Perry''' (born September 15, 1938 in [[Williamston, North Carolina]]) is a former [[Major League Baseball]] [[right-handed]] [[pitcher]]. He pitched from 1962-1983 for eight different teams in his career. During a 22-year baseball career, Perry compiled 314 [[win (baseball)|wins]], 3,534 [[strikeout]]s, and a 3.11 [[earned run average]]. He was elected to the [[National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum|Baseball Hall of Fame]] in 1991.

Perry, a five-time [[Major League Baseball All-Star Game|All-Star]], was the first pitcher to win the [[Cy Young Award]] in each league, winning it in the [[American League]] in {{By|1972}} with the [[Cleveland Indians]] and in the [[National League]] in {{By|1978}} with the [[San Diego Padres]]. He is also distinguished, along with his brother [[Jim Perry (baseball)|Jim]], for being the second-winningest brother combination in baseball history—second only to the [[knuckleball]]ing Niekro brothers, [[Phil Niekro|Phil]] and [[Joe Niekro|Joe]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Perry, Gaylord|pages=699|encyclopedia=The Culturial Encyclopedia of Baseball|author=Light, Jonathon|year=2005}}</ref> While pitching for the [[Seattle Mariners]] in 1982, Perry became the fifteenth member of the [[300 win club]].

Despite Perry's notoriety for doctoring baseballs (throwing a [[spitball]]), and perhaps even more so 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]]''<ref>Gaylord Perry, ''[[Me and the Spitter]]'', co-authored with Cleveland baseball newspaper writer Bob Sudyk, ISBN 0-8415-0299-4</ref> – he was not ejected for the illegal practice until August 23, 1982, in his 21st season in the majors.

Like most pitchers, Perry was not renowned for his hitting ability, and in his sophomore season of {{By|1963}}, his manager Alvin Dark is said to have joked, "They'll put a man on the moon before he hits a home run." There are other variants on the story, but either way, on July 20, 1969, just an hour after the [[Apollo 11]] spacecraft carrying [[Neil Armstrong]] and [[Buzz Aldrin]] landed on the moon, Perry hit the first home run of his career.<ref name="moon">{{cite web |title=Moon Shot |url=http://www.snopes.com/sports/baseball/perry.asp |work=[[snopes.com]] |accessdate=2011-05-08 |date=2005-07-20}}</ref>

==Early life==
Gaylord Perry was named after a close friend of his father's, who died while having his teeth pulled.<ref name="billjames">{{cite book|title=The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract|year=2001|publisher=''[[Simon & Schuster]]''|author=James, Bill|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=mUzTJ4-8N0EC&pg=RA1-PT280&dq=%22Gaylord+Perry%22+yankees&lr=&ei=280LSLitJZK2ygTBmYmdAQ&sig=CFuA2aDM2QmrlFkIGYUHZHPKiko | isbn=9780743227223}}</ref>

==Pitching style==
Perry claims he was taught the spitball in 1964 by pitcher [[Bob Shaw (baseball)|Bob Shaw]]. Perry had a reputation throughout his career for doctoring baseballs, and was inspected on the mound by umpires and monitored closely by opposing teams.<ref name="nytquest">{{cite news|title=Gaylord Perry: The Lonely Quest For Victory No. 300|publisher=''[[The New York Times]]''|date=1982-03-01|author=Berkow, Ira}}</ref> On August 23, 1982, he was ejected from a game against the Boston Red Sox for doctoring the ball, and given a 10-day suspension.

Perry 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 [[K-Y Jelly]] attached to his plaque."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/saraceno/2003-06-19-saraceno-clemens_x.htm|title=Clemens should save pitches for mound, not Hall of Fame|publisher=''[[USA Today]]''|author=Saracena, Joe|date=2003-06-19}}</ref>

[[Gene Tenace]], who caught Gaylord Perry when they played for the San Diego Padres, said: "I can remember a couple of occasions when I couldn't throw the ball back to him because it was so greasy that it slipped out of my hands. I just walked out to the mound and flipped the ball back to him."<ref name="nytmore">{{cite news|title=SPORTS PEOPLE; More on the Perry Case|date=1982-08-26|publisher=''[[The New York Times]]''}}</ref>

Perry used his reputation to psyche out the hitters as well. As he looked in to his catcher for the pitch selection, Perry would touch various parts of his head, such as his eyebrows and his cap. In this manner, he may or may not have been applying a foreign substance to the ball on any particular pitch. [[Reggie Jackson]] was so upset after striking out against Perry one time that Jackson was ejected from the game. Jackson returned from the dugout with a container of [[Gatorade]], splashing Gatorade onto the field while yelling at the umpire that Perry should be allowed to use the Gatorade on the baseball.

The spitball was not his only method for upsetting batters. [[Sports Illustrated]]'s [[Joe Posnanski]] wrote of Perry, "My favorite trick pitch of his was the old Puffball, where he would load up on rosin so that a puff of white smoke would release while he threw his pitches. This was made illegal somewhere along the way (because of Perry, of course), but it’s so awesome — it’s like the sort of thing one of the villains on the old ''Batman'' TV show would do."<ref>http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/2010/05/21/the-art-of-the-k/</ref>

==Professional career==
===Minor leagues===
Perry played semi-professional in [[Alpine, Texas]] at [[Kokernot Field]] in the early 1950s for the [[Alpine Cowboys]]. Bobby Biedermann was his catcher and roommate.

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 (baseball, 1902–71)|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 Cubs]] for the 1961 season. At Tacoma, he led the [[Pacific Coast League]] in wins and inning pitched in 1961.<ref name="MacKay">{{cite book|title=The Great Shutout Pitchers: Twenty Profiles of a Vanishing Breed|pages=177–178|year=2003|author=MacKay, Joe|publisher=McFarland & Company|isbn=0786416769}}</ref>

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.<ref name="MacKay" /> With the addition of Perry, [[Bill James]] called that 1962 Tacoma squad, which featured numerous future major league players, the best minor league lineup of the 1960s.<ref name="billjames" />

===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.<ref name="MacKay" />

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 [[Sandy Koufax|Koufax]]/[[Don Drysdale|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, he had a low ERA and allowed only 7 hits per 9 innings pitched.<ref name="m179">''MacKay'', 179</ref>

Perry had similar numbers in 1968: he posted a 16-15 record, but with a then-career-best 2.45 ERA on a Giants team that finished second to the [[St. Louis Cardinals]]. On September 17 of that year, two days after his 30th birthday, Perry [[no-hitter|no-hit]] the Cardinals and [[Bob Gibson]] 1-0 at [[Candlestick Park]]. The game's lone run came on a first-inning home run by light-hitting [[Ron Hunt]]—his second and final home run of the 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.<ref name="m179" />

In 1969, Perry led the league in innings pitched, but the Giants finished second in the pennant race for the fifth straight season. Perry took over as the Giants' ace in 1970, and led 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]].<ref name="m180">''MacKay'', 180</ref>

===Cleveland Indians (1972–75)===
Before the 1972 season, the Giants traded the then 32-year-old Perry and shortstop [[Frank Duffy (baseball)|Frank Duffy]] to the [[Cleveland Indians]] for 29-year-old flamethrower [[Sam McDowell]], the ace of the Indians' staff. 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 ([[CC 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 remained as Cleveland's last 20-game winner (21 wins in 1974), until [[Cliff Lee]] in 2008.

===Texas Rangers (1975–77)===
On June 13, 1975, at the start of a three-game series with the [[Texas Rangers (baseball)|Texas Rangers]], the Indians traded Perry to the Rangers in exchange for pitchers [[Jim Bibby]], [[Jackie Brown (baseball)|Jackie Brown]], and [[Rick Waits]]. Perry was feuding with Indians player/manager [[Frank Robinson]].<ref>http://bioproj.sabr.org/bioproj.cfm?a=v&v=l&pid=11112&bid=448</ref> Perry would win nearly 80 more games in his career than the three combined. With the Rangers, Perry formed a one-two punch with [[Fergie Jenkins]], with Perry earning 12 wins, and Jenkins 11, during the remainder of 1975. However, the Rangers, who had finished 2nd in the AL West in 1974, slipped to 3rd place that year.

The next year, with Jenkins moving to Boston, the 37-year-old Perry became the staff ace, winning 15 games against 14 defeats. The Rangers, however, slipped to 4th place in the AL West. But then, in 1977, the Rangers surged to 2nd place in the AL West, winning 94 games, a total that the franchise would not surpass until 1999. Perry again won 15 games, this time against only 12 defeats, in a rotation that included double-digit winners [[Doyle Alexander]], [[Bert Blyleven]], and [[Dock Ellis]].

===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. Perry's 21 wins in 1978 accounted for 25% of the club's victories all year long, and he became the first pitcher to win Cy Young awards in both leagues. In this season he became the third pitcher to strike out 3,000 batters, accomplishing the feat two weeks after his 40th birthday.<ref name="sandiegoenc">{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=The San Diego Padres Encyclopedia|pages=296|year=2003|publisher=Sports Publishing LLC|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=rcilc7h_2oMC|author=Naiman, Joe and Porter, David|title=Gaylord Perry | isbn=9781582610580}}</ref>

In 1979, Perry posted a 3.05 ERA and an 12–11 record before quitting the team on September 5, saying he would retire unless the club traded him back to Texas.<ref>{{cite news|title=Gaylord Perry leaves Padres|publisher=''[[The Globe and Mail]]''|date=1979-09-06}}</ref> The Padres traded Perry to the [[Texas Rangers (baseball)|Texas Rangers]] on February 15, 1980.<ref name="sandiegoenc" />

===Texas Rangers/New York Yankees (1980)===
In 1980, Perry posted a 6–9 record and 3.43 ERA in 24 games with Texas before being traded to the Yankees on August 13, 1980 for minor leaguers [[Ken Clay]] and a player to be named later ([[Marvin Thompson (baseball)|Marvin Thompson]]).<ref>{{cite news|title=Yanks Lose To White Sox, 4–1; Perry Obtained From Rangers|publisher=''[[The New York Times]]''|date=1980-08-13}}</ref> Many Yankees players had complained about Perry during his stints with the Rangers, and the club even used a special camera team to monitor his movements during one of his starts at Yankee Stadium.<ref>{{cite news|title=Yanks Greet Perry, A Venerable Newcomer|publisher=''[[The New York Times]]''|author=Gross, Jane|date=1980-08-15}}</ref> Perry finished the season with a 4–4 record for the Yankees.<ref name="bref">{{cite news|title=Gaylord Perry statistics|url=http://www.baseball-reference.com/p/perryga01.shtml|publisher=Baseball Reference|accessdate=2008-04-20}}</ref>

===Atlanta Braves (1981)===
Perry's contract was up after the 1980 season and he signed a one-year, $300,000 contract with the [[Atlanta Braves]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Agreement With Perry, 42, Is Confirmed by Braves|date=1981-01-08|publisher=''[[Associated Press]]''}}</ref> During the [[1981 Major League Baseball strike|strike-shortened]] 1981 season, Perry, the oldest player at the time in Major League baseball, started 23 games (150.7 innings) and had a 8–9 record.<ref name="bref" /> The Braves released Perry after the season, leaving him three victories short of 300.<ref name="nytquest" />

===Seattle Mariners/Kansas City Royals (1982–83)===
After being released by the Braves, Perry was unable to find interest from any clubs, and missed his first spring training in 23 years.<ref name="nytquest" />

He eventually signed with the Seattle Mariners, where he acquired the nickname "Ancient Mariner",<ref>{{cite news|title=SPORTS PEOPLE; Quest for No.300|publisher=''[[The New York Times]]''|date=1982-04-30|pages=31A}}</ref> and won his 300th game on May 6, {{By|1982}}, the first pitcher to win 300 since [[Early Wynn]] did so in {{By|1963}}. On August 23 of that year, he was ejected from a game against the [[Boston Red Sox]] for doctoring the ball, and given a 10-day suspension. It was the second time Perry had been ejected in his entire career, and it was his first ejection for ball doctoring.<ref name="nytmore" />

After starting the 1983 season 3–10, Perry was [[designated for assignment]] by Seattle on June 26 and the [[Kansas City Royals]] picked him on a [[Major League Baseball transactions#Waivers|waiver claim]] 10 days later.<ref>{{cite news|title=Baseball Roundup|publisher=''[[The Globe and Mail]]''|date=1983-07-06}}</ref> In August, Perry became the third pitcher in history to record 3,500 strikeouts.<ref>{{cite news|title=Perry Ends His Career After 21 Years, 314 Wins|publisher=''[[The Washington Post]]''|date=1983-09-23}}</ref> On July 24 he took the pine tar bat that was used to call George Brett out against the Yankees and tried to hide it from the umpires. In the final months of the season, Perry experimented with a submarine delivery for the first time in his career and took a no-hitter into the eighth inning against the first-place [[Baltimore Orioles]] on August 19.<ref>{{cite news|title=Three Great Careers Ending, and an Era|publisher=''[[The Washington Post]]''|date=1983-10-01|author=Boswell, Thomas}}</ref>

In {{By|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.

He announced his retirement on September 23, 1983.

==Post-playing career==
Perry retired in 1983 after pitching for eight teams (the [[San Francisco Giants]], [[Cleveland Indians]], [[Texas Rangers (baseball)|Texas Rangers]] (twice), [[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 [[The Second City|Second City]] actor [[Jim Zulevic]] out of a late night party in a Chicago hotel.

Perry retired to his {{convert|500|acre|km2|sing=on}} farm in [[Martin County, North Carolina|Martin County]], [[North Carolina]] where he grew tobacco and peanuts, but had to file for bankruptcy in 1986. He briefly worked for [[Fiesta Foods]] as a sales manager,<ref>{{cite news|title=FROM BASEBALL TO BANKRUPTCY|publisher=''[[United Press International]]''|date=1986-08-18|author=Trott, William C.}}</ref> and later in the year [[Limestone College]] in [[Gaffney, South Carolina]] chose Perry to be the College’s first baseball coach. Perry was there until 1991 when he retired.<ref>[http://www.limestone.edu/wdpresent.htm Limestone College | Template<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

Despite his admission of illegal pitches he was elected to the Hall of Fame in {{By|1991}} and was nominated as a finalist for the [[Major League Baseball]] All-Century Team. In {{By|1999}} ''[[The Sporting News]]'' ranked him 97th on their list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players.

Perry supported the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]], campaigned for [[Jesse Helms]] and contemplated a bid for Congress himself in 1986.<ref>{{cite news|title="You can't eat and farm too" – Gaylord Perry|publisher=''[[United Press International]]''|date=1986-08-13}}</ref>

On July 23, {{By|2005}} the San Francisco Giants retired Perry's uniform number 36.<ref>{{cite news|title=Padres Acquire Randa From the Reds|date=2005-07-24|publisher=''[[The Washington Post]]''|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/23/AR2005072301059_pf.html}}</ref>

Perry was inducted into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame on March 9, 2009.<ref>{{cite news|title=Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame Inductions|date=2009-03-10|publisher=''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]''|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/10/SPFD16C8HK.DTL&hw=perry&sn=002&sc=913 | first=John | last=Crumpacker}}</ref>

==Legacy==
{{MLBBioRet
|Image = GiantsGaylord Perry.png
|Name = Gaylord Perry
|Number = 36
|Team = San Francisco Giants
|Year = 2005
|}}
Due to the number of games Perry lost (265) and lack of postseason glory, the Washington Post called Perry's bid for the Hall of Fame "dubious".<ref>{{cite news|title=To Combat the New Era of Statistics Inflation, Baseball Needs a New Barometer|publisher=''[[The Washington Post]]''|author=Boswell, Thomas|date=1985-08-27}}</ref> Bill James lists Perry as having the 10th best career of any right-handed starting pitcher, and the 50th greatest player at any position.<ref>''James'', p.426, 448–9</ref> In {{Baseball Year|1999}}, ''[[The Sporting News]]'' placed Perry at number 97 on its list of "[[The Sporting News list of Baseball's Greatest Players|The 100 Greatest Baseball Players]]."<ref>{{cite web | title = TSN Presents – Baseball's 100 Greatest Players | work = sportingnews.com | url=http://archive.sportingnews.com/baseball/100/ | accessdate = 2007-02-15}}</ref>

==Pitching statistics==
Perry is one of five pitchers to win the Cy Young Award in both the American and National League ([[Pedro Martínez]], [[Roger Clemens]], [[Randy Johnson]], and [[Roy Halladay]] being the others). He held the record for most consecutive 15-win seasons 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).

==Personal life==
Perry's wife, Blanche Manning Perry, died on September 11, 1987 when another car ran a stop sign and hit her car broadside on [[U.S. Route 27]] in [[Lake Wales, Florida|Lake Wales]], [[Florida]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Wife of Gaylord Perry killed in wreck|publisher=''[[Associated Press]]''|date=1987-09-11}}</ref>

His nephew, [[Chris Perry (golfer)|Chris]], is a professional [[golf]]er who has won a tournament on the [[PGA Tour]].

==See also==
* [[300 win club]]
* [[3000 strikeout club]]
* [[Alpine Cowboys]]
* [[List of Major League Baseball leaders in career wins]]
* [[List of Major League Baseball no-hitters]]
* [[List of Major League Baseball wins champions]]
* [[List of Texas Rangers Opening Day starting pitchers]]
* [[Top 100 Major League Baseball hit batsmen leaders]]
* [[Top 100 Major League Baseball strikeout pitchers]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
{{Baseballstats |mlb= |espn= |br=p/perryga01 |fangraphs=1010210 |cube=p/gaylord-perry}}
{{bbhof|perry-gaylord}}
*[http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20050723&content_id=1142533&vkey=news_sf&fext=.jsp&c_id=sf Giants Retire Perry's Number 36]

{{s-start-collapsible|header={{s-ach}}}}
{{succession box |title=[[List of Major League Baseball no-hitters|No-hitter pitcher]] | before=[[George Culver]] |years=September 17, 1968 |after=[[Ray Washburn]]}}
{{succession box | before = [[Juan Marichal]] | title = [[MLB Player of the Month|Major League Player of the Month]]| years = June, 1966| after = [[Mike Shannon]]}}
{{succession box| title = [[List of Major League Baseball wins champions|National League Wins Champion]]| years = 1970 (with [[Bob Gibson]])<br>1978| before = [[Tom Seaver]]<br>[[Steve Carlton]]| after = [[Ferguson Jenkins]]<br>[[Joe Niekro]] & [[Phil Niekro]]}}
{{succession box| title = [[List of Major League Baseball wins champions|American League Wins Champion]]| years = 1972<br>(with [[Wilbur Wood]])| before = [[Mickey Lolich]]| after = [[Wilbur Wood]]}}
{{succession box | before = [[Vida Blue]] | title = [[Cy Young Award|American League Cy Young Award]]| years = 1972 | after = [[Jim Palmer]]}}
{{succession box | before = [[Steve Carlton]] | title = [[Cy Young Award|National League Cy Young Award]]| years = {{By|1978}} | after = [[Bruce Sutter]]}}
{{succession box | title=[[List of Seattle Mariners Opening Day starting pitchers|Opening Day starting pitcher<br/> for the Seattle Mariners]] | before= [[Floyd Bannister]] | years=[[1983 in baseball|1983]] | after= [[Mike Moore (baseball)|Mike Moore]]}}
{{s-end}}
{{AL Cy Young}}
{{NL Cy Young}}
{{300 win club}}
{{3000 strikeout club}}
{{San Francisco Giants}}
{{San Francisco Giants Retired Numbers}}
{{San Francisco Giants Opening Day starting pitchers}}
{{Cleveland Indians Opening Day starting pitchers}}
{{San Diego Padres Opening Day starting pitchers}}
{{Seattle Mariners Opening Day starting pitchers}}
{{Texas Rangers Opening Day starting pitchers}}
{{1991 Baseball HOF}}
{{Pitchers in the Baseball Hall of Fame}}

{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
| NAME = Perry, Gaylord
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION =
| DATE OF BIRTH = September 15, 1938
| PLACE OF BIRTH = Williamston, North Carolina
| DATE OF DEATH =
| PLACE OF DEATH =
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perry, Gaylord}}
[[Category:1938 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Williamston, North Carolina]]
[[Category:National League All-Stars]]
[[Category:American League All-Stars]]
[[Category:Atlanta Braves players]]
[[Category:National Baseball Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:Cy Young Award winners]]
[[Category:Cleveland Indians players]]
[[Category:Kansas City Royals players]]
[[Category:Baseball players from North Carolina]]
[[Category:Major League Baseball pitchers]]
[[Category:New York Yankees players]]
[[Category:San Diego Padres players]]
[[Category:San Francisco Giants players]]
[[Category:Seattle Mariners players]]
[[Category:Texas Rangers players]]
[[Category:Campbell University alumni]]
[[Category:American League wins champions]]
[[Category:National League wins champions]]
[[Category:Major League Baseball players with retired numbers]]
[[Category:St. Cloud Rox players]]
[[Category:Corpus Christi Giants players]]
[[Category:Rio Grande Valley Giants players]]
[[Category:Tacoma Giants players]]

[[de:Gaylord Perry]]
[[es:Gaylord Perry]]
[[fr:Gaylord Perry]]
[[ja:ゲイロード・ペリー]]
[[fi:Gaylord Perry]]

Revision as of 14:16, 30 September 2011

Gaylord Perry
Pitcher
Born: (1938-09-15) September 15, 1938 (age 85)
Williamston, North Carolina
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
debut
April 14, 1962, for the San Francisco Giants
Last appearance
October 2, 1983, for the Kansas City Royals
Career statistics
Win–loss record314–265
Earned run average3.11
Strikeouts3,534
Teams
Career highlights and awards
[[{{{hoflink}}}|Member of the {{{hoftype}}}]]
[[{{{hoflink}}}|Baseball Hall of Fame]]
Induction1991
Vote77.2%

Gaylord Jackson Perry (born September 15, 1938 in Williamston, North Carolina) is a former Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. He pitched from 1962-1983 for eight different teams in his career. During a 22-year baseball career, Perry compiled 314 wins, 3,534 strikeouts, and a 3.11 earned run average. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991.

Perry, a five-time All-Star, was the first pitcher to win the Cy Young Award in each league, winning it in the American League in 1972 with the Cleveland Indians and in the National League 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.[1] While pitching for the Seattle Mariners in 1982, Perry became the fifteenth member of the 300 win club.

Despite Perry's notoriety for doctoring baseballs (throwing a spitball), and perhaps even more so 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[2] – he was not ejected for the illegal practice until August 23, 1982, in his 21st season in the majors.

Like most pitchers, Perry was not renowned for his hitting ability, and in his sophomore season of 1963, his manager Alvin Dark is said to have joked, "They'll put a man on the moon before he hits a home run." There are other variants on the story, but either way, on July 20, 1969, just an hour after the Apollo 11 spacecraft carrying Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon, Perry hit the first home run of his career.[3]

Early life

Gaylord Perry was named after a close friend of his father's, who died while having his teeth pulled.[4]

Pitching style

Perry claims he was taught the spitball in 1964 by pitcher Bob Shaw. Perry had a reputation throughout his career for doctoring baseballs, and was inspected on the mound by umpires and monitored closely by opposing teams.[5] On August 23, 1982, he was ejected from a game against the Boston Red Sox for doctoring the ball, and given a 10-day suspension.

Perry 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 K-Y Jelly attached to his plaque."[6]

Gene Tenace, who caught Gaylord Perry when they played for the San Diego Padres, said: "I can remember a couple of occasions when I couldn't throw the ball back to him because it was so greasy that it slipped out of my hands. I just walked out to the mound and flipped the ball back to him."[7]

Perry used his reputation to psyche out the hitters as well. As he looked in to his catcher for the pitch selection, Perry would touch various parts of his head, such as his eyebrows and his cap. In this manner, he may or may not have been applying a foreign substance to the ball on any particular pitch. Reggie Jackson was so upset after striking out against Perry one time that Jackson was ejected from the game. Jackson returned from the dugout with a container of Gatorade, splashing Gatorade onto the field while yelling at the umpire that Perry should be allowed to use the Gatorade on the baseball.

The spitball was not his only method for upsetting batters. Sports Illustrated's Joe Posnanski wrote of Perry, "My favorite trick pitch of his was the old Puffball, where he would load up on rosin so that a puff of white smoke would release while he threw his pitches. This was made illegal somewhere along the way (because of Perry, of course), but it’s so awesome — it’s like the sort of thing one of the villains on the old Batman TV show would do."[8]

Professional career

Minor leagues

Perry played semi-professional in Alpine, Texas at Kokernot Field in the early 1950s for the Alpine Cowboys. Bobby Biedermann was his catcher and roommate.

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 Cubs for the 1961 season. At Tacoma, he led the Pacific Coast League in wins and inning pitched in 1961.[9]

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.[9] With the addition of Perry, Bill James called that 1962 Tacoma squad, which featured numerous future major league players, the best minor league lineup of the 1960s.[4]

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.[9]

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, he had a low ERA and allowed only 7 hits per 9 innings pitched.[10]

Perry had similar numbers in 1968: he posted a 16-15 record, but with a then-career-best 2.45 ERA on a Giants team that finished second to the St. Louis Cardinals. On September 17 of that year, two days after his 30th birthday, Perry no-hit the Cardinals and Bob Gibson 1-0 at Candlestick Park. The game's lone run came on a first-inning home run by light-hitting Ron Hunt—his second and final home run of the 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.[10]

In 1969, Perry led the league in innings pitched, but the Giants finished second in the pennant race for the fifth straight season. Perry took over as the Giants' ace in 1970, and led 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.[11]

Cleveland Indians (1972–75)

Before the 1972 season, the Giants traded the then 32-year-old Perry and shortstop Frank Duffy to the Cleveland Indians for 29-year-old flamethrower Sam McDowell, the ace of the Indians' staff. 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 (CC 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 remained as Cleveland's last 20-game winner (21 wins in 1974), until Cliff Lee in 2008.

Texas Rangers (1975–77)

On June 13, 1975, at the start of a three-game series with the Texas Rangers, the Indians traded Perry to the Rangers in exchange for pitchers Jim Bibby, Jackie Brown, and Rick Waits. Perry was feuding with Indians player/manager Frank Robinson.[12] Perry would win nearly 80 more games in his career than the three combined. With the Rangers, Perry formed a one-two punch with Fergie Jenkins, with Perry earning 12 wins, and Jenkins 11, during the remainder of 1975. However, the Rangers, who had finished 2nd in the AL West in 1974, slipped to 3rd place that year.

The next year, with Jenkins moving to Boston, the 37-year-old Perry became the staff ace, winning 15 games against 14 defeats. The Rangers, however, slipped to 4th place in the AL West. But then, in 1977, the Rangers surged to 2nd place in the AL West, winning 94 games, a total that the franchise would not surpass until 1999. Perry again won 15 games, this time against only 12 defeats, in a rotation that included double-digit winners Doyle Alexander, Bert Blyleven, and Dock Ellis.

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. Perry's 21 wins in 1978 accounted for 25% of the club's victories all year long, and he became the first pitcher to win Cy Young awards in both leagues. In this season he became the third pitcher to strike out 3,000 batters, accomplishing the feat two weeks after his 40th birthday.[13]

In 1979, Perry posted a 3.05 ERA and an 12–11 record before quitting the team on September 5, saying he would retire unless the club traded him back to Texas.[14] The Padres traded Perry to the Texas Rangers on February 15, 1980.[13]

Texas Rangers/New York Yankees (1980)

In 1980, Perry posted a 6–9 record and 3.43 ERA in 24 games with Texas before being traded to the Yankees on August 13, 1980 for minor leaguers Ken Clay and a player to be named later (Marvin Thompson).[15] Many Yankees players had complained about Perry during his stints with the Rangers, and the club even used a special camera team to monitor his movements during one of his starts at Yankee Stadium.[16] Perry finished the season with a 4–4 record for the Yankees.[17]

Atlanta Braves (1981)

Perry's contract was up after the 1980 season and he signed a one-year, $300,000 contract with the Atlanta Braves.[18] During the strike-shortened 1981 season, Perry, the oldest player at the time in Major League baseball, started 23 games (150.7 innings) and had a 8–9 record.[17] The Braves released Perry after the season, leaving him three victories short of 300.[5]

Seattle Mariners/Kansas City Royals (1982–83)

After being released by the Braves, Perry was unable to find interest from any clubs, and missed his first spring training in 23 years.[5]

He eventually signed with the Seattle Mariners, where he acquired the nickname "Ancient Mariner",[19] and won his 300th game on May 6, 1982, the first pitcher to win 300 since Early Wynn did so in 1963. On August 23 of that year, he was ejected from a game against the Boston Red Sox for doctoring the ball, and given a 10-day suspension. It was the second time Perry had been ejected in his entire career, and it was his first ejection for ball doctoring.[7]

After starting the 1983 season 3–10, Perry was designated for assignment by Seattle on June 26 and the Kansas City Royals picked him on a waiver claim 10 days later.[20] In August, Perry became the third pitcher in history to record 3,500 strikeouts.[21] On July 24 he took the pine tar bat that was used to call George Brett out against the Yankees and tried to hide it from the umpires. In the final months of the season, Perry experimented with a submarine delivery for the first time in his career and took a no-hitter into the eighth inning against the first-place Baltimore Orioles on August 19.[22]

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.

He announced his retirement on September 23, 1983.

Post-playing career

Perry retired in 1983 after pitching for eight teams (the San Francisco Giants, Cleveland Indians, Texas Rangers (twice), 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.

Perry retired to his 500-acre (2.0 km2) farm in Martin County, North Carolina where he grew tobacco and peanuts, but had to file for bankruptcy in 1986. He briefly worked for Fiesta Foods as a sales manager,[23] and later in the year Limestone College in Gaffney, South Carolina chose Perry to be the College’s first baseball coach. Perry was there until 1991 when he retired.[24]

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.

Perry supported the Republican Party, campaigned for Jesse Helms and contemplated a bid for Congress himself in 1986.[25]

On July 23, 2005 the San Francisco Giants retired Perry's uniform number 36.[26]

Perry was inducted into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame on March 9, 2009.[27]

Legacy

Gaylord Perry's number 36 was retired by the San Francisco Giants in 2005.

Due to the number of games Perry lost (265) and lack of postseason glory, the Washington Post called Perry's bid for the Hall of Fame "dubious".[28] Bill James lists Perry as having the 10th best career of any right-handed starting pitcher, and the 50th greatest player at any position.[29] In 1999, The Sporting News placed Perry at number 97 on its list of "The 100 Greatest Baseball Players."[30]

Pitching statistics

Perry is one of five pitchers to win the Cy Young Award in both the American and National League (Pedro Martínez, Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, and Roy Halladay being the others). He held the record for most consecutive 15-win seasons 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).

Personal life

Perry's wife, Blanche Manning Perry, died on September 11, 1987 when another car ran a stop sign and hit her car broadside on U.S. Route 27 in Lake Wales, Florida.[31]

His nephew, Chris, is a professional golfer who has won a tournament on the PGA Tour.

See also

References

  1. ^ Light, Jonathon (2005). "Perry, Gaylord". The Culturial Encyclopedia of Baseball. p. 699.
  2. ^ Gaylord Perry, Me and the Spitter, co-authored with Cleveland baseball newspaper writer Bob Sudyk, ISBN 0-8415-0299-4
  3. ^ "Moon Shot". snopes.com. 2005-07-20. Retrieved 2011-05-08.
  4. ^ a b James, Bill (2001). The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 9780743227223. {{cite book}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  5. ^ a b c Berkow, Ira (1982-03-01). "Gaylord Perry: The Lonely Quest For Victory No. 300". The New York Times. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ Saracena, Joe (2003-06-19). "Clemens should save pitches for mound, not Hall of Fame". USA Today. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  7. ^ a b "SPORTS PEOPLE; More on the Perry Case". The New York Times. 1982-08-26. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  8. ^ http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/2010/05/21/the-art-of-the-k/
  9. ^ a b c MacKay, Joe (2003). The Great Shutout Pitchers: Twenty Profiles of a Vanishing Breed. McFarland & Company. pp. 177–178. ISBN 0786416769.
  10. ^ a b MacKay, 179
  11. ^ MacKay, 180
  12. ^ http://bioproj.sabr.org/bioproj.cfm?a=v&v=l&pid=11112&bid=448
  13. ^ a b Naiman, Joe and Porter, David (2003). "Gaylord Perry". The San Diego Padres Encyclopedia. Sports Publishing LLC. p. 296. ISBN 9781582610580.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  14. ^ "Gaylord Perry leaves Padres". The Globe and Mail. 1979-09-06. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  15. ^ "Yanks Lose To White Sox, 4–1; Perry Obtained From Rangers". The New York Times. 1980-08-13. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  16. ^ Gross, Jane (1980-08-15). "Yanks Greet Perry, A Venerable Newcomer". The New York Times. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  17. ^ a b "Gaylord Perry statistics". Baseball Reference. Retrieved 2008-04-20.
  18. ^ "Agreement With Perry, 42, Is Confirmed by Braves". Associated Press. 1981-01-08. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  19. ^ "SPORTS PEOPLE; Quest for No.300". The New York Times. 1982-04-30. pp. 31A. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  20. ^ "Baseball Roundup". The Globe and Mail. 1983-07-06. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  21. ^ "Perry Ends His Career After 21 Years, 314 Wins". The Washington Post. 1983-09-23. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  22. ^ Boswell, Thomas (1983-10-01). "Three Great Careers Ending, and an Era". The Washington Post. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  23. ^ Trott, William C. (1986-08-18). "FROM BASEBALL TO BANKRUPTCY". United Press International. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  24. ^ Limestone College | Template
  25. ^ ""You can't eat and farm too" – Gaylord Perry". United Press International. 1986-08-13. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  26. ^ "Padres Acquire Randa From the Reds". The Washington Post. 2005-07-24. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  27. ^ Crumpacker, John (2009-03-10). "Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame Inductions". San Francisco Chronicle. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  28. ^ Boswell, Thomas (1985-08-27). "To Combat the New Era of Statistics Inflation, Baseball Needs a New Barometer". The Washington Post. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  29. ^ James, p.426, 448–9
  30. ^ "TSN Presents – Baseball's 100 Greatest Players". sportingnews.com. Retrieved 2007-02-15.
  31. ^ "Wife of Gaylord Perry killed in wreck". Associated Press. 1987-09-11. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gaylord Perry.

Gaylord Perry at the Baseball Hall of Fame

Awards and achievements
Preceded by No-hitter pitcher
September 17, 1968 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Major League Player of the Month
June, 1966 		Succeeded by
Preceded by National League Wins Champion
1970 (with Bob Gibson)
1978 		Succeeded by
Preceded by American League Wins Champion
1972
(with Wilbur Wood) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by American League Cy Young Award
1972 		Succeeded by
Preceded by National League Cy Young Award
1978 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Opening Day starting pitcher
for the Seattle Mariners
1983 		Succeeded by

Template:Persondata

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