The first Giants game I remember listening to on the radio was pitched by Bob Shaw RHP probably in 1965. Shaw was traded early in the following season but his legacy lived on as Gaylord Perry RHP, who he taught how to throw a spitball, had a breakout season on his way to a Hall of Fame career.
As a new fan, I was quite excited that Perry got off to a great start to the 1966 season and was 12-1 with a 2.51 ERA by the All-Star Break. Perry started the first game I ever watched on TV. We did not have a TV in our house but we were visiting my grandparents in SoCal and the Dodgers were playing the Giants in San Francisco. I was quite excited because I figured the Giants would win with Perry pitching. He as going against Don Sutton RHP who was in the rookie season of his own HOF career. Alas! Willie Davis CF led off the game with a HR and the Dodgers went on to win. What I remember about Gaylord Perry was he would touch himself in about 10 different places before every pitch, bill of cap, both eyebrows, mouth, back of neck, under arms. My mother walked by the TV and remarked that the pitcher looked like he was "three sheets to the wind."
In 1968 our class went on a camping trip to Lake Pillsbury. On the way back home, the mom who was driving put the Giants-Cubs game on the radio. Jim Ray Hart hit a home run off Ferguson Jenkins RHP, another Hall of Famer, in the second inning and Gaylord Perry pitched a complete game shutout for a 1-0 win.
Also in 1968, Perry pitched a no-hit shutout of the St Louis Cardinals on Sept 17. What was unusual about that is Ray Washburn RHP of the Cardinals no-hit the Giants the very next game on September 18.
After the 1972 season the Giants made one of their worse trades ever, and that's saying a lot, when they sent Gaylord to the Cleveland Indians for "Sudden" Sam McDowell LHP. The trade made sense on paper. Perry was 33 years old while McDowell was 29. The Giants needed a LHP to balance a RH leaning pitching staff and McDowell was a hard thrower with higher K rates than Perry. Well, Sudden Sam came to spring training with a sore arm and was basically washed up while Gaylord Perry won the Cy Young Award for the Indians and went on to pitch 10 more seasons for multiple teams.
In 2011, my daughter and I went to a spring training game in Surprise AZ. We arrived early and they had a table set up with several Hall of Fame players, including Gaylord Perry and Ferguson Jenkins, selling and signing memorabilia. We picked out a photo and a ball and paid our money. While he was signing, I started to tell Ol' Gaylord how great it was to root for him when I was a kid. He didn't even look up and say something like "yeah, yeah, do you want anything else?" I knew his reputation for being a curmudgeon so wasn't surprised but I think my daughter expressed her disappointment as we walked away.
Gaylord Perry RIP
I saw Gaylord pitch a handful of games at the 'Stick as a child. Particularly memorable was a 10-1 rout of Montreal, and Gaylord also hit a home run. He was probably my favorite Giant at that time and it was usually hilarious watching umpires undress him looking for ... whatever. And it was one of the saddest days of my childhood when Charlie Fox unceremoniously shipped him AND Duffy off to Cleveland for Fox's own white whale, whom I recall Fox had personally scouted years earlier, that broken-down inebriate.
ReplyDeleteDuffy, by the way, was the not-bad shortstop they had picked up from the Reds for their fourth outfielder ... one George Foster. So it was a multi-faceted whammy. And so went the '70s ....
About 25 years ago I too had a chance to meet Gaylord while taking my young nephew to one of those card shows on the Peninsula. Got an autographed picture and spoke for a minute, sharing my sadness about The Trade. It appears though that I caught him on a good day, as he was affable and chatty and flashed a big grin. I recall from our handshake that he had the biggest mitt I ever shook, and I'm a good-sized fellow myself. I'm sorry he was off the day you met him. RIP indeed.
I had the opposite experience at a spring training game with Gaylord. I was at the A's facility in a game against the Giants. I was at the Gaylord Perry booth around the 7th inning and no one else was there. I paid $20 for a signed ball and then Gaylord Perry and I hung out. We talked about him hitting his only home run that Alvin Dark predicted when he first saw Gaylord swing a bat as a rookie exclaiming, "The day that guy hits a homer, a man will walk on the moon." For those who don't know the story, on July 20, 1969 when Neil Armstrong first stepped onto the moon, Gaylord Perry hit his one and only homer. When I asked him about what went through his mind, he answered, "Complete surprise."
ReplyDeleteGreat remembrances, thank you for them.
ReplyDeleteThe back-to-back no hitters were especially interesting to our family: we for generations were born Cardinal fans but "removed" to the Bay Area in the 60's and "transistioning" as best we could. More difficult in those days to keep up with a team a couple thousand miles and multiple time zones away. My sister and our father went to the first of the two games - this son/brother was forever mournful missing it.
In other news of the day, does $37MM per year for 5 (or 6) years, who will be 35-39 (or 40) during this contract and hasn't been especially durable the last 2 years – well, does it soften $37MM for 8 years for a 31-yo slugger who has been durable the last 2 years (101 HRs)?