I'm grateful for that feedback, John! Telling these stories and keeping them going is my mission (though I will be happy to accept a Pulitzer). Thank you for reading and being a part of it.
Somewhat of a footnote, Perry was with the Royals when the Pine Tar Game happened, and of course Perry helped smuggle the offending bat back to the locker room, trying to hide it from the umpires (and the AL office). I'm not sure if Perry ever took back his comments about MacPhail after the Royals' protest was upheld...
I'm guessing he did not. It was all downhill after "bleeping weak human" the year before. From what I have learned Lee MacPhail seems to have been a remarkably decent man for his industry. This surely made he and Gaylord natural adversaries. Thanks for this great footnote, Darin!
He was very entertaining. I wish they would allow one pitcher per team to throw the spitter the way they did 100 years ago when they first banned the spitter.
It's interesting to me that the very same opinion has at times been held by upper level baseball executives. We are in an era of relative pitcher dominance right now, but if that pendulum were ever to swing back toward the hitters, relaxing some of the rules prohibiting wet or sticky stuff could work. Other rules and practices (removing balls much more quickly, helmet development) have changed the risk landscape considerably, enough to make it tolerable, I think. Then again, as Gaylord showed, the thrill of the chase is a lot of the fun.
My uneducated opinion is that we're in a pitcher dominance era now because hitters have all started swinging for the fences. We have more strikeouts than in any era in history. What happened to "meet the ball" like my generation was taught in Little League in the 1970s. And what happened to celebrating hitters who batted .350 even though they hit few homers. In 1972 Rod Carew led the league in hitting and had ZERO homers. 2 years later he led the league in batting and had just 3 homers, and yet he finished in 7th place in MVP voting.
It sounds like a pretty educated opinion to me. It's amazing to see how baseball's "arms race" plays out just like a real one does. Everyone is aiming for power power power and efficacy has replaced entertainment.
I was watching the Yankee game when he got caught & with his infamous shoulder shrug (I’m sure he practiced it in a mirror) the file went flying out of his hand. BAZINGA!!
When rules are enforced by people, there's always some drift, isn't there? Baseball is a great laboratory to see how that can happen. Perry's earlier complaints that he "had as much time in the majors" as Carl Yastrzemski and deserved some leniency on his pitch location shows another cultural expectation that existed outside the rules and put pressure on them.
Thank you
I just laughed and giggled while reading this. Well done, you should win a Pulitzer!
What makes baseball different than other sports is the stories. You tell them well.
I'm grateful for that feedback, John! Telling these stories and keeping them going is my mission (though I will be happy to accept a Pulitzer). Thank you for reading and being a part of it.
Somewhat of a footnote, Perry was with the Royals when the Pine Tar Game happened, and of course Perry helped smuggle the offending bat back to the locker room, trying to hide it from the umpires (and the AL office). I'm not sure if Perry ever took back his comments about MacPhail after the Royals' protest was upheld...
I'm guessing he did not. It was all downhill after "bleeping weak human" the year before. From what I have learned Lee MacPhail seems to have been a remarkably decent man for his industry. This surely made he and Gaylord natural adversaries. Thanks for this great footnote, Darin!
Great story, Paul. I think Gaylord Perry’s pitching stint was merely prelude to his Miller Lite commercial career.
Not to mention Mello Yello, and Edy’s Ice Cream. He cut a SportsCenter promo too, and it is kind of the best.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOZYabAaeb8
Classic promo! That Gaylord is one slippery dude.
Too much!!!
A wonderful article. Thank you, Paul.
He was very entertaining. I wish they would allow one pitcher per team to throw the spitter the way they did 100 years ago when they first banned the spitter.
It's interesting to me that the very same opinion has at times been held by upper level baseball executives. We are in an era of relative pitcher dominance right now, but if that pendulum were ever to swing back toward the hitters, relaxing some of the rules prohibiting wet or sticky stuff could work. Other rules and practices (removing balls much more quickly, helmet development) have changed the risk landscape considerably, enough to make it tolerable, I think. Then again, as Gaylord showed, the thrill of the chase is a lot of the fun.
My uneducated opinion is that we're in a pitcher dominance era now because hitters have all started swinging for the fences. We have more strikeouts than in any era in history. What happened to "meet the ball" like my generation was taught in Little League in the 1970s. And what happened to celebrating hitters who batted .350 even though they hit few homers. In 1972 Rod Carew led the league in hitting and had ZERO homers. 2 years later he led the league in batting and had just 3 homers, and yet he finished in 7th place in MVP voting.
It sounds like a pretty educated opinion to me. It's amazing to see how baseball's "arms race" plays out just like a real one does. Everyone is aiming for power power power and efficacy has replaced entertainment.
I was watching the Yankee game when he got caught & with his infamous shoulder shrug (I’m sure he practiced it in a mirror) the file went flying out of his hand. BAZINGA!!
The Viceroy of Vaseline. Had not heard that one! Good stuff Paul. Un-doctored of course.
I saw "Vicar of Vaseline" somewhere but that title didn't seem grandiose enough, so I...added a little something. Thanks Mark!
Loading it up is appropriate!
When rules are enforced by people, there's always some drift, isn't there? Baseball is a great laboratory to see how that can happen. Perry's earlier complaints that he "had as much time in the majors" as Carl Yastrzemski and deserved some leniency on his pitch location shows another cultural expectation that existed outside the rules and put pressure on them.