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Gaylord Perry was born September 15, 1938
in Williamstown, NC. He entered the world of major league
baseball in 1962, and stayed there till 1983. Along
the way he played on eight teams making him the first
pitcher to ever win the Cy Young Award in both leagues.
The teams he played for were San Francisco Giants 1962-71.
Cleveland Indians 1972 till 75 and Texas Rangers 1975-77.
He then joined the San Diego Padres for 1978 and 79.
In 1980 he split time with the Rangers and New York
Yankees. In 1981 he joined the Atlanta Braves, 1982
the Seattle Mariners, before wrapping it up in Spring
Training 1983 with the Kansas City Royals.
During that time he achieved a 314-265
pitching record for a 3.10 ERA. As a Giant, Perry no-hit
Bob Gibson and the Cardinals 1-0, September 17, 1968.
An outstanding competitor, he won Cy Young awards in
1972 with Cleveland and as a Padre in 1978, and was
the first to win the prestigious pitching award in both
leagues. He was a five time "All Star" in the years
1966, 70, 72, 74 and 79. He pitched fifteen wins in
a row, had 303 complete games, 3,534 strikeouts, and
one big day on May 6, 1982. That was the day he had
win number 300. The achievement was reached in Seattle’s
Kingdome against the New York Yankees. It was during
this game, against former teammates, he wore a different
jersey each inning. He always had an edge over batters.
Gaylord was well known over all the years
for his sinking fast ball, and that mystery "phantom
spitball". The latter never really proved. However,
he had batters thinking about that each time they came
up to swat. In latter interviews he often said his role
was not so much in pitching, but knowing the batters’
weakness. Along that line he was once quoted as saying
"I reckon I tried everything on the old apple but salt
and pepper and chocolate sauce toping".
Longtime Baseball Manager Gene Mauch had
a different point of view. After managing the Philadelphia
Phillies, Montreal Expos, Minnesota Twins, and California
Angels between the years of 1960 and 1987 he could only
shake his head and say this of Gaylord. "He (Gaylord
Perry) should be in the Hall of Fame with a tube of
KY Jelly attached to his plaque."
Shortly after retiring Mr. Perry became
the baseball coach at Limestone College in Gaffney,
South Carolina. It was there, on July 21, 1991, Gaylord
Perry entered the Baseball Hall of Fame. Shortly after
that the State of South Carolina had a Gaylord Perry
day to honor his achievements. Nobody mentioned his
batting expertise.
Perry hit his first home run on July 20,
1969. That was just about the time Apollo 11 touched
down on the moon. It was the subject of pundits, which
happened first. Perry getting a homerun, or man landing
on the moon. In time Gaylord had six homeruns. He did
most of his talking from the pitcher mound.
Today he is retired in North Carolina
except for some memorabilia and other public appearance
events. The best chance to contact him is through the
Baseball HOF, PO Box 590, Cooperstown, NY 13326. Signed
autographs are available through "Autographed
To You".
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