1972 Al Cy Young Award Winner Gaylord Perry Biography

By Author: Kristopher Dillon
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Gaylord Perry was born in Williamston, North Carolina and is one of the great pitchers to have ever played Major League Baseball. While he is one of the greatest pitchers of all time, some people critique him for his tricks while pitching.

The main tricks that Perry would use involved doctoring the baseball. When someone refers to a player that doctors the baseball it means that the player makes changes to the ball in order to make the ball move in different ways. One of the ways that Perry would doctor the baseball was through a method called a spitball.

While spit balls started out as spitting on the ball, Perry would use petroleum jelly on the ball. There were times that he would use so much of this jelly on the ball that the catcher could not properly throw the ball back to Perry.

Another trick used by Perry was a trick that he would call the puffball. The puffball was a trick where Perry would put so much rosin on his hands from the rosin bag that he would release a cloud of smoke when he threw the ball. The batter would not be able to locate the ball until it was too late and he was out of position ...
... to hit. Many of the tactics that Perry used were later ruled to be illegal. At one point in his career he actually received a 10-day suspension for doctoring the ball against the Boston Red Sox.

While he was partially famous for doctoring the ball, he was also famous for his excellent pitching skill. From the time that he was in the minor leagues he was already a solid pitcher. He posted an ERA of 2.39 in his first year of the Minors and made his way to the big leagues by 1963.

When he finally joined the starting rotation for the San Francisco Giants he had a lot of success, but his record was not indicative of a dominant pitcher. It was not until 1966 that Perry really caught the attention of the nation. He started the season with a phenomenal record of 20-2 and played in his first all-star game.

This all-star game was the first of 5 all-star teams that he would make over the course of his career. He was not only an all-star during his career, but he also managed to win a couple of Cy Young awards.

His first Cy Young award came while playing for the Cleveland Indians. He actually lost 16 games that season. The 16 losses that season were the most that a pitcher has ever lost in a season while still winning the Cy Young Award.

The next Cy Young award came in the 1978 season while he was playing for the San Diego Padres. This was his first season pitching in the National League, but he caught on to things quickly.

In 1983 Perry would pitch the last game of his career for the Kansas City Royals. Perry retired with a record of 314-265 over the course of his career. His career ERA was 3.11 and he racked up 3534 strikeouts over the course of his career. Perry was inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991, receiving 77.2% approval from voters.

AUTHOR:-
Kristopher Dillon writes reviews on various sporting events including the different sportsbook websites. In this piece of write up, the author highlights on some of legends of MLB and MLB Betting odds. The author also takes the readers thought on how to bet on baseball.