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Gaylord Jackson Perry
San Francisco Giants
Pitcher
Born: September 15, 1938, Williamston, NC
Signed: Signed by the San Francisco Giants as an amateur free agent, June 3, 1958
Major League Teams: San Francisco Giants 1962-71; Cleveland Indians 1972-75; Texas Rangers 1975-77; San Diego Padres 1978-79; Texas Rangers 1980; New York Yankees 1980; Atlanta Braves 1981; Seattle Mariners 1982-83; Kansas City Royals 1983
Died: December 1, 2022, Gaffney, SC (age 84)
Hall of Fame Induction: 1991
Gaylord Perry established himself as one of the premier pitchers in baseball in the 1960s with the Giants, before going on to win the Cy Young Award in both leagues with the Indians in 1972 and the Padres in 1978. He was the first to accomplish that feat. Known for potentially throwing a spitball ("real or imagined" as his Hall of Fame biography puts it), Perry constantly outmatched batters over his 22-year career.
Perry was a five-time All-Star and a five-time 20-game winner. He led the league in wins three times - in 1970 with 23, 1972 with 24 and 1978 with 21. In 690 career starts, he threw 303 complete games and 53 shutouts, joining the 300-win club in 1982. His 314 career wins are currently 17th on the all-time list and his 3,534 career strikeouts are currently 9th on the all-time list. Along with his brother Jim (#146), the Perry's are the second-winningest brother combination in baseball history (529 wins) behind Joe (#43) and Phil Niekro (#355) (539 wins).
Perry pitched a no-hitter against the Cardinals and Bob Gibson (#200) on September 17, 1968. He was elected into baseball's Hall of Fame in 1991 on his third year of eligibility with 77.2% of the votes cast in favor of his election.
Hall of Fame Induction: 1991
Gaylord Perry established himself as one of the premier pitchers in baseball in the 1960s with the Giants, before going on to win the Cy Young Award in both leagues with the Indians in 1972 and the Padres in 1978. He was the first to accomplish that feat. Known for potentially throwing a spitball ("real or imagined" as his Hall of Fame biography puts it), Perry constantly outmatched batters over his 22-year career.
Perry was a five-time All-Star and a five-time 20-game winner. He led the league in wins three times - in 1970 with 23, 1972 with 24 and 1978 with 21. In 690 career starts, he threw 303 complete games and 53 shutouts, joining the 300-win club in 1982. His 314 career wins are currently 17th on the all-time list and his 3,534 career strikeouts are currently 9th on the all-time list. Along with his brother Jim (#146), the Perry's are the second-winningest brother combination in baseball history (529 wins) behind Joe (#43) and Phil Niekro (#355) (539 wins).
Perry pitched a no-hitter against the Cardinals and Bob Gibson (#200) on September 17, 1968. He was elected into baseball's Hall of Fame in 1991 on his third year of eligibility with 77.2% of the votes cast in favor of his election.
Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.
Building the Set / Card #572
September 21, 2025 from The Philly Show (America's Pastime)
The Card / Giants Team Set / Accuracy Index +5
1969 Season
Perry had another fantastic season, going 19-14 for the Giants with a 2.49 ERA in 40 appearances and 39 starts. He threw 26 complete games, including three shutouts, and led the league with 325 1/3 innings pitched. His strikeout total of 233 was fifth best in the league. I took this from Perry's SABR biography on the umpire-related challenges Perry faced during the season:
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1962 Topps #199
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (23): 1962-84
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2024 Topps Heritage Oversized 1975 Topps Box Loaders #OB-48
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 874 in the Beckett online database as of 10/9/25.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
September 21, 2025 from The Philly Show (America's Pastime)
On Sunday morning, September 21st, I made the hour-long drive to the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania for the latest installment of the Philadelphia Sports Card & Memorabilia Show, known to its friends as The Philly Show. The show has a legitimate official sponsor (eBay) and the advertisement for the event notes the show is in its 50th year. I hadn't attended a baseball card show since the last Philly Show in December, and I was flying solo to this one as our oldest son is in his first month of college at Villanova. I posted a full summary of the show over at The Phillies Room.
I made stops at six tables at the show, all yielding needed cards for our 1969 Topps set, and I left the show with just 16 more cards to go for my version of a complete set. The first place I stopped was a table with well-organized and well-marked binders of commons and semi-stars with 20% Off notes across the front of each binder.
I took my time and found 32 commons and semi-stars needed before asking to see the dealer's star cards from the set. It turned out this first purchase was also my biggest, as I spent over half my allotted budget here, America's Pastime from Fair Lawn, New Jersey, before moving on to my second stop. This was the 13th of 36 total cards bought from America's Pastime, and the 13th of 91 cards for set added overall on the day, and it cost a little over $6 after the dealer discount.
The Card / Giants Team Set / Accuracy Index +5
Topps got some mileage out of the photos they took of Perry during a photo shoot from 1963, using photos from the session, showing Perry in a black warm-up jacket, for his 1964, 1965, 1966 and 1969 Topps cards. The cartoon on the back highlights his win in the 1966 All-Star Game, his first of five times being named to the team. Perry pitched two scoreless innings in the ninth and tenth innings in 1966, as the game was won by a walk-off single from Maury Wills (#45) to score Tim McCarver (#475). The brief write-up highlights his 1968 no-hitter.
This is one of 23 cards available in the set's fifth series available as either "yellow letter" or "white letter" variations, with the yellow letter variations being more prevalent. This is the more prevalent yellow letter variation with Perry's last name printed in yellow.
Accuracy Index: Perry's card scores a +5 despite this being the fourth time collectors had seen his warm-up jacket.
1969 Season
Perry had another fantastic season, going 19-14 for the Giants with a 2.49 ERA in 40 appearances and 39 starts. He threw 26 complete games, including three shutouts, and led the league with 325 1/3 innings pitched. His strikeout total of 233 was fifth best in the league. I took this from Perry's SABR biography on the umpire-related challenges Perry faced during the season:
In June of 1969, National League president Warren Giles instructed umpires to immediately remove any pitcher from the game if convinced the hurler was putting any lubricant on the ball. Two days later, with Perry on the mound against the Mets, Doug Harvey threw out several balls, checked Perry’s uniform and cap, and found nothing. A few weeks later, Ed Sudol made Perry pull his pants legs up over his knees to be checked. Soon thereafter, umpire Chris Pelekoudas wiped Perry’s face and neck with a towel. Eventually Giant general manager Chub Feeney complained to the league office about the harassment, and the protests slowed down.
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First Mainstream Card: 1962 Topps #199
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (23): 1962-84
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2024 Topps Heritage Oversized 1975 Topps Box Loaders #OB-48
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 874 in the Beckett online database as of 10/9/25.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
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