Gaylord Perry, one of the best pitchers in MLB during the 1970s, passed away on Thursday morning. He was 84 years old.
ESPN was one of the first outlets to report the news of Perry’s passing earlier today. The Cherokee County Coroner revealed to them that the Hall-of-Famer died of natural causes at 5 AM ET this morning at his home in Gaffney, South Carolina.
Gaylord Perry was an absolute legend of the 1970s era of MLB. He made history by being the first pitcher to win Cy Young Awards in both leagues when he achieved the honor in 1972 with the then-Cleveland Indians and in then in 1978 with the San Diego Padres.
Perry reached the big leagues in 1962 with the San Francisco Giants and played there for 10 straight seasons. However, his peak came in the 1970s when he earned four of his five All-Star game appearances (1970, 1972, 1974, and 1979).
Gaylord Perry, the master of the spitball
While Gaylord Perry is one of the best pitchers of the 20th century, he is maybe best known for his use of the illegal pitch known as the spitball, and wrote about it in his 1974 autobiography, Me and The Spitter. For the uninitiated, here is a description of the spitball (via Baseball Reference):
“A spitball (aka spitter, wet one, or unsanitary pitch) is a pitch in which the pitcher applies saliva to the baseball, either to change its aerodynamic properties or to reduce friction between his fingers and the ball. The term is sometimes applied loosely to pitches in which the ball is treated with other foreign substances, such as Vaseline, and occasionally to any type of pitch that involves doctoring the baseball.”
Perry was one of the true masters of the pitch despite it being outlawed in 1919. However, the genius of it is not just its use but finding ways to apply substances to the ball without getting caught. The spitball and Gaylord Perry’s other array of pitches helped him to win 314 games and log 3,554 strikeouts for his career.
Perry was part of the 1991 class of the Baseball Hall-of-Fame.
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