Does this controversial player get your HoF vote #5: Gaylord Perry

[KurtBevacqua]

OK, gotta admit I'm excited to do this one for a number of reasons. First because I bet everyone figured with the direction I was going that there was an obvious next person to do one of these on and Perry most certainly isn't it. And second, Gaylord is one of my favorite all-time players, if for no other reason than he was such an intriguing character. He's one of those players that frankly, you couldn't make this guy up. In a novel about baseball his character would just not be believable. The crafty, crusty old tobacco farmer who was loathed by his teammates for treating them like crap and hated by opponents for the headgames he played with the spitter. Yet at the same time he was beloved by the fans everywhere he played. You know the drill, let's get this started.

Why Gaylord Perry belongs in the Hall of Fame
- 314 career wins, every eligible pitcher who has ever won 300 games is in the Hall
- 5-time All Star
- First pitcher to win the Cy Young Award in both leagues
- Sixth all-time in innings pitched (5350)
- Eighth all-time in strikeouts (3534)
- Ninth all-time in games started
- 303 career complete games
Exceeds the Gray Ink, HoF Standards, and HoF Monitor scores for a Hall of Famer
- While many, many pitchers have used the spitball, none whose reputation was so tied up in the illegal pitch had nearly the kind of success Perry had, thus the theory is he had to have some real Hall of Fame talent to be that successful that long regardless of how he got there
- Perry claims that much of his reputation as a spitballer was fabricated by himself as a mindgame to get into the hitter's head
- Wasn't actually caught throwing the spitball in a game until 1982, after his Hall of Fame credentials had been amassed
- Perry is the epitome of the beloved villain. Everyone knew he was throwing the spitter, but it was still more or less accepted by fans and teammates (and he played with and against darn near everyone).

Based on on-the-field performance there is little doubt Gaylord Perry was a Hall of Fame player

Why Gaylord Perry should not be in the Hall of Fame
- He was ejected from a game in 1982 for using the spitter
- Freely admits he threw the spitball for 20-plus years
- He was so infamous throwing the spitter that MLB even changed it's rules in 1973 on pitcher's conduct on the mound just because of Perry


Good article on Perry here: ESPN.com: MLB - Perry greased batters with his stuff

I love the bit about where he talks about making this stuff up to get into the hitters' heads.

He loved playing with the minds of batters -- he would fidget on the mound, touching his cap, his glove, his uniform, his face. Umpires frequently went over his person and his uniform with a thoroughness that presaged modern forensic investigation.

"The day before I'd pitch, I'd put grease on my hands and go shake their hands just to get them thinking," he said. "Sometimes I'd roll a ball covered with grease into their dugout."

[1998 Yankees]

Eh? A trick question, since Perry is already enshrined?

But, thought provoking nonetheless. Why? Because with one exception, I have voted "NO" in this series on the basis of one criterion: Whether the player cheated, either in direct violation of the rules or through artificial means not in general use and therefore unavailable to most of their opponents.

In either case, for either reason, those men attained their supposed HoF numbers unfairly and thereby hurt the integrity of the game and set a bad example for younger generations, as players. The one exception was Rose, whom I felt did not hurt the game and fairly won his place in the Hall as a player.

So, I must be consistent. I voted "NO" to Perry as well because he cheated throughout his career, made no bones about it, and spends much of his time flaunting and celebrating it now. Evict the SOB!

[rudel.dietrich]

Wasn't he caught intentioaly scuffing a ball with a nail file as well, or was that another pitcher?

[The Professor]

A great big "yes!"

Athletes want to win. Winning is the point of professional sports. Athletes will do almost anything to win. Athletes cheat. And cheating, particularly this sort of cheating, is in baseball's blood.

"The integrity of the game" is a shibboleth that appeals to politicians, the game's mandarins, and sports writers. It is a pleasant and romantic notion that has almost no grounding in reality, sad as that may be.

[Dagrims]

I know why Yankees voted "no", and I assume that's the same reason CommishJoe did, but I'm curious why Jax voted "no". Surely it can't be because of his stats?

[1998 Yankees]

Originally Posted by Fallschirmjager

Wasn't he caught intentioaly scuffing a ball with a nail file as well, or was that another pitcher?

I think you are thinking of Joe Niekro:

http://www.thebaseballpage.com/players/niekrjo01.php

[Syd Thrift]

Yes, but only because he won #300 with the Seattle Mariners, destiny's team.

[Athos]

I need to know what his politics are before I know whether or not I can support him for such an honor.