Gaylord Perry, the 314-game winner for eight different teams, passed away today at the age of 84. Perry died at his home in Gaffney, SC at about 5 a.m. Thursday of natural causes, Cherokee County Coroner Dennis Fowler said.
had an extraordinary 22-year career in Major League Baseball, pitching 5,350 innings for eight different teams. When he retired, Perry was 11th on the all-time list with 314 wins and had the third most strikeouts (3,534), behind just Steve Carlton and Nolan Ryan.
Perry is best known for throwing a spitball, or did he? Throughout his career, the 6’4″ right-hander toyed with opposing hitters by moving his fingers all over his cap, mouth, and face. A rule implemented before the 1968 season forbade pitchers from touching their mouths on the mound but Perry found a way to keep throwing a moistened ball, or so he wanted everyone to believe.
In 1974, Perry released a book in which he described the various ways he would put moisture on the ball. But, of course, that was all in the past.
“I reckon I tried everything on the old apple but salt and pepper and chocolate sauce topping… Of course, I’m reformed now. I’m a pure law-abiding citizen.”
— Gaylord Perry (Me and the Spitter, An Autobiographical Confession)
Perry spent his career toying with the opposition and the media, always leaving them wondering if he was loading up the ball. In 1971, when Gaylord’s daughter Alison was just five years old, a reporter asked her if her daddy threw a greaseball. “It’s a hard slider,” she replied innocently. Or not so innocently.
What follows is a couple of biographical details and interesting tidbits about the great career of Gaylord Perry, with some links to further information at the end of the piece.
Cooperstown Cred: Gaylord Perry (SP)
- Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1991 (3rd year on ballot, 77.2% of the vote)
- Giants (1962-71), Indians (1972-75), Rangers (1975-77, 1980), Padres (1978-79), Yankees (1980), Braves (1981), Mariners (1982-83), Royals (1983)
- Career: 314-265 (.542 WL%), 3.11 ERA, 3,534 strikeouts
- Career: 117 ERA+, 93.0 WAR (Wins Above Replacement)
- 5-time All-Star
- The first pitcher to win the Cy Young Award in both leagues (1972 w/ Cleveland Indians, 1978 w/ San Diego Padres)
- Two other times in the Top 5 of Cy Young vote (2nd in 1970 w/ Giants)
- Won 20 or more games 5 times (won 19+ games 7 times)
- Career: 5,350 innings pitched (6th most ever)
(cover photo: mlb.com)
San Francisco Giants (1962-1971)
Gaylord Jackson Perry was born on September 15, 1938, in Williamston, North Carolina. Growing up on a farm, Perry was the younger of two baseball-playing brothers.
Jim Perry, born just under 3 years before Gaylord, pitched for 17 years in the majors, winning 215 games of his own. The Perry brothers played together briefly in 1974 and 1975 with the Cleveland Indians.
The younger Perry made his MLB debut at the age of 23 with the San Francisco Giants in 1962, pitching 43 innings on a team that would win the N.L. Pennant. The rookie Perry was not on the post-season roster; his teammates lost in 7 games to the New York Yankees.
Perry in his early years had the privilege of playing with four other future Hall of Famers: Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Juan Marichal, and Orlando Cepeda. Perry’s first three MLB seasons were up and down before he emerged as a star in 1966. In that, his first All-Star campaign, Perry won 21 games while posting a 2.99 ERA.
Whether you use ERA, ERA+, Wins or WAR, Perry was one of the top 5 pitchers in the National League from 1966 to 1971, along with fellow future Cooperstown inductees Marichal, Tom Seaver, Bob Gibson, and Fergie Jenkins.
Three Standout Games with the Giants
Out of the 367 games Gaylord Perry pitched in a Giants uniform, three of them stand out. The first was in a relief effort early in 1964. It was May 31; the Giants were playing the New York Mets at Shea Stadium. Perry entered the game in the bottom of the 13th inning with the score tied at 6. After Perry’s 10 innings of scoreless ball, the score was still tied at 6. The Giants scored two runs in the top of the 23rd inning to give Perry and the Giants a 8-6 victory. According to his book, it was in this game that he threw a spitball for the first time.
For the record, in his career, Perry tossed 10 or more innings 37 times. To put that into the perspective of the modern game, Baseball Reference’s Stathead tells us that a total of 7 starting pitchers have tossed at least 10 innings in all of baseball in the last 25 years (1998-2022). To put it into even greater perspective, Perry’s 37 outings of 10+ innings are the most in the sport in the last 100 years.
The second memorable outing of Perry’s Giants’ career was on September 1, 1967. The Giants were in Cincinnati. Perry pitched 16 innings of scoreless baseball but did not get a decision. The Giants beat the Reds 1-0 in 21 innings. It was the longest outing of Perry’s career but is not counted among his 303 complete games.
The third standout game also had a final score of 1-0. At Candlestick Park, Perry outdueled N.L. Cy Young Award winner Bob Gibson, tossing his first and only no-hitter. The game was one of several hard-luck losses for the St. Louis Cardinals’ ace, who finished the season 22-9 despite an other-worldly 1.12 ERA.
In Perry’s final year with San Francisco, Perry hit the first of his six MLB home runs. Why is this notable? Well, there’s a story behind it. In 1964, Giants Manager Alvin Dark was quoted as saying, “mark my words, a man will land on the moon before Gaylord Perry hits a home run.” So, five years later, on July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 landed on the lunar surface and Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon, making his giant leap for mankind. Shortly thereafter, Perry finally went deep for the first time in his career.
“Well, about the top of the third, over the loudspeaker, they were telling everybody to stand and give a moment of silent thanks for the astronauts who landed on the moon. And I’d say 30 minutes later, Claude Osteen grooved me a fastball, and I hit it out of the park.”
— Gaylord Perry (mlb.com, July 20, 2017)
Also in 1969, Perry got his first and only taste of post-season baseball. In Game 1 against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Perry pitched a complete game, leading the Giants to a 5-4 win.
After the Bucs had taken Games 2 and 3, Perry was back on the hill in a must-win scenario in Game 4. He did not deliver, getting shelled for 7 runs and 5.2 innings. The last batter he faced in a Giants uniform was Roberto Clemente.
Cleveland Indians (1972-1975)
After the 1971 season, Gaylord Perry was traded to the Cleveland Indians for “Sudden” Sam McDowell, a younger and ultra-talented hard-throwing lefty.
The deal worked out much, much better for Cleveland. McDowell won just 11 games in 1+ seasons with the Giants while Perry won 70 in 3 1/2 years with the Tribe. Included in those 70 victories were 24 wins (against 16 losses) with a 1.92 ERA in 1972, an effort that earned him the A.L. Cy Young Award.
Sabermetric pioneer and baseball historian Bill James called Perry’s ’72 season the best by an American League pitcher since 1931. What made it so impressive was that Perry won 24 games for a poor team that won just 72 games. He tossed a complete game in 20 of his 24 wins, so he really earned them.
What made Perry’s season a little less memorable was that it was bested by Steve Carlton, who went 27-10 (with a 1.97 ERA) for the 59-win Philadelphia Phillies. Interestingly, this was also Carlton’s first season with a new ball club.
In 1974, again on a bad team, Perry pitched well enough to earn another Cy Young (he went 21-13 with a 2.51 ERA) but only finished fourth, behind Catfish Hunter, Jenkins, and Ryan. Perry’s ERA was better than Jenkins’ or Ryan’s and only two points behind Catfish, who had the benefit of playing behind a superior defense and in a pitcher’s park in Oakland.
Late in 1974, the Indians acquired future Hall of Famer Frank Robinson from the California Angels to be a part-time DH. A the end of the season, the 39-year-old Robinson also became baseball’s first African-American skipper, in the role of player-manager.
Perry and Robinson didn’t get along. Perry wanted to be paid more than the aging slugger and didn’t appreciate the training regimen Robinson imposed in spring training. In the middle of the 1975 campaign, the Indians’ ace was traded to the Texas Rangers.
Texas Rangers (1975-1977)
Gaylord Perry was 36 years old when he was dealt to Texas. A funny story from Mark Armour’s SABR Bio about Perry was the change of heart Rangers’ manager Billy Martin had about Perry’s spitball.
When Perry was with Cleveland, Martin had once brought a bloodhound to a game to sniff Perry’s balls, to no avail. Now that Perry was on Martin’s pitching staff, the fiery manager saw the light: “I realize how wrong I was. I’d like to get on the record immediately as saying Gaylord does nothing illegal.”
A fun factoid from James’ Historical Baseball Abstract was that, towards the end of the 1975 campaign, Gaylord Perry and Jim Perry had identical career records at 215-174. Gaylord surpassed his brother in his final start of ’75 and Jim never pitched again; Gaylord’s 39-year-old big brother had been released by the Oakland A’s in August.
Even in his late 30’s, Perry pitched well for the Rangers, winning 42 games in 2 1/2 seasons with a 3.22 ERA.
San Diego Padres (1978-1979)
Now 39 years old, Gaylord Perry was traded again, this time to the San Diego Padres. Padres owner Ray Kroc was doing his best to be the George Steinbrenner of the National League. In the previous off-season, the Padres had signed two stars from the Oakland A’s championship teams, catcher Gene Tenace and reliever Rollie Fingers.
In the ’78-’79 offseason, outfielder Oscar Gamble, coming off a 31-home run campaign, was signed as a free agent. And then there was the Perry trade.
For the second time in his career, Perry won a Cy Young Award in his first season with a new club, going 21-6 with a 2.73 ERA for the Friars. Looking back at all the numbers, Perry probably didn’t deserve this Cy Young; call it a make-up call for 1974.
What was notable about the ’78 campaign was that Perry only completed 5 of his 37 starts, after having averaged 22 CGs for the previous 12 seasons. In fact, in Perry’s first 16 MLB seasons, he completed a whopping 54% of his starts. It’s ironic that he claimed his second Cy Young in the first season when he let his teammates (including future Hall of Famer Fingers) finish games for him.
5 Squads in 4 Seasons (1980-1983)
Gaylord Perry, as it was for a couple of other 300-game winners from the 1970s, bounced around the majors in the twilight years of his career. After the 1979 campaign, his age 40 season, the veteran right-hander had 279 career wins (against 217 losses, with a 2.93 ERA).
In 1980, Perry was back in Texas for most of the season before an August trade to the New York Yankees. Perry won 10 games between his time in Texas and New York; he was at 289 wins when the Yankees released him following the ’80 campaign. Perry signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Braves. He went 8-9 with a 3.94 ERA in 150.2 innings and was released again.
Sitting at 297 career wins and without a job entering the 1982 season, Perry was finally signed on March 5th by the Seattle Mariners.
In his 6th start with the M’s, Perry went the distance, beating the Yankees 7-3 while picking up win #300. When he won his 300th, Perry’s career ERA stood just a thousandth of a decimal point below 3.00. It was the final 56 starts of his career that pushed his ERA to its final resting place of 3.11.
Regardless, even at the age of 43, big Gaylord was a workhorse, tossing 216.2 innings for the Mariners while completing six games.
Later in the year, on August 23rd, Perry was ejected from the game (by home plate umpire Dave Phillips) for throwing two illegal pitches, allegedly. It took 766 MLB appearances but Gaylord Perry was finally given the thumb for tossing a spitter.
In 1983, Perry got off to a 3-10 start (with a 4.94 ERA) and was released on June 27th. Ten days later, he signed with the Kansas City Royals, where he made the final 14 starts of his 22-year career. Perry’s final start occurred six days after his 45th birthday.
Gaylord Perry’s Legacy
Despite his long and often brilliant career, Gaylord Perry will always be famous for throwing a spitball, allegedly. The spitball was outlawed in MLB after the 1920 season, with 17 existing pitchers allowed to continue plying their trade under a grandfather clause. Nobody knows for sure how many dozens (or hundreds or thousands) of hurlers surreptitiously juiced the ball but nobody made a career out of it quite like the big farm boy from North Carolina.
On the mound, Perry was one of the greatest workhorses in the history of the game. His 5,350 career innings thrown is the 6th most in the history of the sport, behind Cy Young, 19th-century star Pud Galvin, Walter Johnson, and contemporaries Phil Niekro and Nolan Ryan.
Perry completed 303 of his 690 career starts; 303 remains by far the most for any pitcher to make his MLB debut in 1950 or later. In 389 of his 777 career appearances, Perry threw at least 8 innings.
Despite his record, it took Gaylord Perry three tries to make it into the Hall of Fame. In his first year on the ballot (in 1989), Perry got 68% of the vote, 3rd best behind Johnny Bench and Carl Yastrzemski, but 7 points shy of the 75% needed to be inducted into Cooperstown.
In 1990, he inched up to 72% of the vote while Joe Morgan and Jim Palmer sailed in on their first tries. Perry finally made it in 1991; he got 77% of the vote and was inducted with Rod Carew and Fergie Jenkins.
Perry’s 314 wins rank him 14th all-time in the game’s history. Because he so often pitched for sub-par teams, he also had the 6th most losses (265) all-time. It’s likely for this reason that the writers made him wait three years for his plaque.
Sometimes the frustration of losing got the better of the competitive ace. On multiple occasions in his career, he excoriated his teammates for poor defensive play. Notably, two of those teammates were George Hendrick (with Cleveland) and Gene Richards (with San Diego), both center fielders. Perhaps Perry was spoiled by his early years in San Francisco.
“The guy that I learned more about how to play the game of baseball, how to pitch hitters, the greatest player that I saw, was Willie Mays. I played with these guys for 10 years and then, when I got to Cleveland, Willie wasn’t there. I knew I was in trouble.”
— Gaylord Perry (Hall of Fame speech, 1991)
Perry was a part of a great generation of nine Hall of Fame starting pitchers who debuted in a nine-year period between 1962 and 1970. In his 2000 Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, the author ranked him as the 18th greatest pitcher in the history of the game. In The Cooperstown Casebook (from 2017), Hall of Fame expert Jay Jaffe (using his JAWS system) ranked Perry 20th best. That’s pretty darned good.
Rest in Peace, Gaylord.
Gaylord Perry Links
- SABR Bio (by Mark Armour)
- Baseball Hall of Fame Page
- Starting Pitcher JAWS Leaders (from Baseball-Reference)
- Gaylord Perry Hall of Fame Speech
- Me and the Spitter (by Gaylord Perry, available on Amazon)
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Read his book many years ago, thank you for a great read here too! I’m gonna go dig that book out and take a trip back in time! Well done!