Gaylord Perry dead at 84
Gaylord Perry, a Baseball Hall of Famer who won 314 games in a 22-season career, died Thursday morning, the Cherokee County (South Carolina) Coroners Office confirmed. Perry was 84.
Perry, a colorful personality best known for his alleged application of spit and foreign substances to the baseballs he threw for eight MLB teams, was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1991. He pitched in 777 major league games, totaling 5,350 innings pitched. He compiled a 314-265 record with a 3.11 ERA and 3,534 strikeouts.
Perry was accused of using all sorts of illegal substances, most commonly saliva but also petroleum products such as Vaseline and K-Y Jelly and even the hair cream Brylcreem, to get more movement on his pitches, none of which he denied. In his memoir “Me and the Spitter,” Perry wrote, “I’d always have it (grease) in at least two places, in case the umpires would ask me to wipe one off. I never wanted to be caught out there with anything, though. It wouldn’t be professional.”