Happy Birthday to the late and great Hall of Fame pitcher Gaylord Perry. Perry pitched in the big leagues for twenty-two seasons for the San Francisco Giants, Cleveland Indians, Texas Rangers, San Diego Padres, New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves, Seattle Mariners, and Kansas City Royals. Perry, along with his lifetime numbers and accolades, is one of the most durable pitchers ever.

Career Statistics/Accolades (1962-1983):

314-265 W-L 3.11 ERA 5,350 IP 3,534 SO 1.181 WHIP

  • 5x All-Star
  • 2x Cy Young Winner (1972 & 1978)

Yes, when someone mentions Gaylord Perry, you think of Spitballer. Okay, that’s fair, but in a game that goes back more than 150 years, it’s not like he was the only one to do it; spitballs weren’t his only way. Perry always had an excellent Curveball, Fastball, Change Up, and Slider in his arsenal. He had a good way of tricking batters by fidgeting his glove, touching his cap, belt, and pockets repeatedly, no matter what pitch he planned to throw. Over his 22-year career, 17 featured Perry throwing over 200 Innings, and six saw him throwing over 300 Innings. As well as being a five-time 20-game winner, Perry took home two Cy Youngs, one in each league, making him the first pitcher ever to accomplish that. What made it more interesting is Perry won the Cy Youngs during his age 33 & 40 seasons. I will also add that most of his career was spent on either losing or mediocre teams, for what Perry accomplished is very impressive.

Overall, Perry won over 300 Games, struck out over 3,000 batters, and had a lifetime ERA of 3.11 throughout 5,350 Innings Pitched. Along with his brother Jim Perry, he became the first brother to win 200 games and are the only brothers to win Cy Youngs. Perry took the ball to start 690 games; only Cy Young has started more games than Perry. In all likelihood, Perry will be the last pitcher to ever complete over 300 games in his career. The fact that he won his two Cy Youngs as old as he did proves that the cerebral part of Pitching is the most essential aspect. Everyone ages and declines physically, but when you have a lot of games or innings under your belt as a pitcher, the wiser you are, and you know how to get guys out by only using certain pitches in certain areas of the strike zone. Due to his career-long controversy over spitballs, it took until his 3rd ballot, but Perry was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991. As well as being in the Giants and Indians Hall of Fame, the Giants retired his #36 uniform as he wore a Giants hat into the Hall of Fame. In 1999, he was ranked #97 on The Sporting News list of 100 Greatest Ball Players.

References:

  1. Gaylord Perry Career Statistics via Baseball-Reference: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/perryga01.shtml
  2. Gaylord Perry via Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaylord_Perry#