Today in Sports History: May 6th
(Perry waves to crowd. Photo courtesy of Associated Press)
5/06/1982 - Perry wins his 300th game
Gaylord Perry, pitching for the Seattle Mariners, wins the 300th game of his big league career. Perry, 43 at the time, would finish his career with 314 wins and 3,534 strikeouts, and was the first pitcher to win the Cy Young Award in both the National League and the American League. His brother Jim also played in the big leagues, racking up 215 wins and the Cy Young in 1970.
Perry, who made the Hall of Fame in 1991, was notorious for doctoring the baseball and doing whatever it took to win. In his 1974 autobiography, Me and the Spitter, Perry wrote, "I reckon I tried everything on the old apple but salt and pepper and chocolate sauce toppin.'" It wasn't until 1982 that he would actually be ejected from a game for using an illegal substance.
Jim and Gaylord Perry retired with the second most wins by a pair of brothers in history, just behind Phil and Joe Niekro, who also played into the 1980's. Fittingly, one of the Niekro brothers, Joe, would also be ejected from a game for doctoring the baseball.
5/06/1998 - Wood strikes out 20
Cubs rookie Kerry Wood strikes out a record number of batters in nine innings. When he was healthy, Wood was one of the best pitchers in baseball. Sadly for the Cubs, he spent too much time on the disabled list to get them to the World Series.
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