Tag Archives: Gaylord Perry

December 1, 2022

Gaylord of the Dancing Ball

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Hall of Fame pitcher Gaylord Perry died today, Thursday of natural causes:

Perry, who pitched for eight major-league teams from 1962 until 1983, was a five-time All-Star who was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1991. He had a career record of 314-255, finished with 3,554 strikeouts and used a pitching style where he doctored baseballs or made batters believe he was doctoring them.

ESPN.com

My thoughts go out to his family and friends.

Perry produced a prodigious pitching WAR from his mid-prime through his mid-30s. In a nine-year span from 1966-1974 he produced 59.6 rWAR. The best year of his career was his 10.8 fWAR performance in 1972, which netted him his first Cy Young award. He was a solid starter for another six seasons, averaging four WAR a year.

I remember Perry mostly with the Indians. He threw strikes, rarely walking batters, and his 5.9 K per nine was good for the era.

He was definitely in everyone’s head. The broadcasters would spend most of their time trying to decide if the ball was doctored. Batters would have umpires look at the ball. It never made a difference.

Perry threw a lot of innings. From 1969 through 1975 he cracked 300 innings six times, and hit 290 in the two seasons previous to the start of that run. If a doctored ball saved his arm, maybe MLB should consider bringing the pitch back.

Perry had a great wind-up. Here he is striking out four batters at age 35 in the 1974 All-Star game:

You seldom see anyone throw like that today.

He was great pitcher and a great character, and I’m glad I got to see him perform.

January 3, 2020

Top Pitchers, 1974-1983

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Working backwards through time with the Bill James Starting Pitcher Rank logs, and this post looks at the 1974-1983 time period. I hoped to call it the Ron Guidry era, but honor of the most dominant pitcher in that stretch goes to Steve Carlton. Carlton pitched well during that time, but steadily led the majors from September of 1980 through June of 1983, the longest stretch by a pitcher in that time frame.

If you visit the graph at the spreadsheet liked above, you’ll see that 1975 and 1976 were real dogfights. Nolan Ryan, Frank Tanana, Catfish Hunter, Tom Seaver, Jim Palmer, and Bert Blyleven fought for the top spot. Tanana had one of the quick rise and falls of the decade, which includes Andy Messersmith and J.R. Richard.

Hunter and Mario Soto are both charted in a shade of yellow, and it looks like Hunter falls and rise, but it’s really Hunter disappearing from the rankings coinciding with Soto’s appearance. By the end of 1983, Soto would be the top pitcher in the majors, as he and Jack Morris challenged Carlton at the end.

Gaylord Perry, known for cheating in his day, started 1974 off strong, and declined but pitched well until the end of the era. He challenged Ryan for the highest score of the period.

January 3, 2019

The Changing Game

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Hall of Fame pitcher Juan Marichal and Gaylord Perry understand the evolution of the game. They talk about the opener strategy without resorting to the “the game was better in my day” argument:


Purists might imagine that Marichal and Perry would regard the opener as an abomination. Instead, the right-handers view this option as an almost predictable development in an ever-evolving sport.

“The game has changed so much that I am not surprised to see that,” Marichal said.


He added that baseball’s economics discourage teams from using any starter as a workhorse: “[Starting pitchers] make too much money, and the teams have to protect those guys.”

MLB.com

I remember about 25 years ago listening to an interview with Whitey Ford. Ford was asked about the huge contracts players signed in the early 1990s, and the interviewer asked Ford what he thought of the players making so much more money than he did. Ford did not take the bait and rant against the players. Instead, he noted that the money just wasn’t there when he pitched. Attendance was low, and there were no big money broadcast deals. It was refreshing to hear.

January 31, 2012