Jim Perry (baseball)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1960 Topps baseball card #324

James Evan Perry, Jr. (born October 30, 1935) was an American pitcher in Major League Baseball from 1959 to 1975. He started his career with the Cleveland Indians in 1959. In 1963, he was traded to the Minnesota Twins where he played through the 1972 season. He finished his career with stints with the Detroit Tigers (1973), back with the Indians (1974-75) and finally the Oakland Athletics (1975).

He was born in Williamston, North Carolina and attended Campbell University until being signed by the Indians in 1956. He is the older brother of Hall of Fame pitcher Gaylord Perry and was a fine pitcher in his own right. The Perry brothers trail only the Niekro brothers (Phil and Joe) for career victories by brothers.

Perry was a three-time All-Star and won the 1970 AL Cy Young Award, when he posted a record of 24-12. He also won 20 games in 1969, and won at least 17 games five times.

1964 Topps baseball card #34

In a 17-year career, Perry accumulated a 215-174 record in 630 games, 447 starts. He struck out 1576 and allowed 1258 earned runs in 3285⅔ innings pitched. He is currently tied with Stan Coveleski for 78th on the all-time win list.

[edit] Trivia

As a batter, Perry was a switch-hitter and posted a respectable .199 batting average in his career.
In 1959, Jim Perry came in 2nd to Bob Allison in the Rookie of the Year vote.
On July 3, 1973, brothers Gaylord Perry (Indians) and Jim Perry (Tigers) pitched against each other for the only time in their careers. Neither finished the game, but Gaylord was charged with the 5–4 loss. Two Norm Cash home runs helped Detroit.

[edit] Highlights

All-Star (1961, '70, '71)
Cy-Young Award winner (1970)
Top 10 in MVP voting twice (1969, '70)
Top 10 in the league in ERA five times (1965, '66, '69, '70, '74)
Led the league in wins twice (1960, '70)
Led the league in shutouts once (1960), and made the top 10 three other times (1962, '69, '70)
Top 5 in Strikeout to walk ratio twice (1969, '70)