Campbell University

Gaylord Perry Baseball Hall of Fame website bio

Gaylord Perry Photo Gallery

Baseball Hall of Fame member Gaylord Perry was inducted into the Campbell Athletics Hall of Fame on Apr. 26, 1984.  Perry and his brother, Jim, were the first Camels enshrined in the school’s Hall.
 
Born in Williamston, N.C., Perry was a standout high school athlete.  He attracted college basketball and baseball recruiters as well as major league baseball scouts.  In 1955 Williamston High won the North Carolina Class A state tournament, as the Perry brothers threw back-to-back shutouts to sweep the best-of-three finals. Gaylord had a 33–5 win–loss record in his high school career.
 
Perry signed a professional bonus contract with the San Francisco Giants in 1958 and made his major league debut in 1962.  He attended Campbell from 1958-60 in the minor league offseason.
 
He won 20 or more games five times and made the All-Star team on five occasions, three in the National League and two more in the American.  Perry missed only two turns in the pitching rotation during his 22-year (1962-83) major league career.
 
Upon retirement, Perry had compiled a 314-265 won-lost record with a 3.07 career earned run average.  His 3,534 strikeouts were the third-highest in major league history at the time of his retirement.  His career included a no-hitter, and he became the first pitcher in MLB history to win the Cy Young Award in both the American (1972 with Cleveland) and National (1978 with San Diego) leagues.
 
The Perry brothers finished their major league careers with a total of 529 victories, the most ever by two siblings in MLB history at the time.  In 1970, they became the first brothers in MLB history to win 20 games each in the same year, and during that same season became the first brothers to pitch against each other in the MLB All-Star Game.  They are also the only two brothers in major league history to win the Cy Young Award.
 
In 1974, while teammates on the Cleveland Indians, Gaylord and Jim, combined to win 38 games and were named co-winners of the franchise’s Man of the Year Award by the Cleveland chapter of the Baseball Writers Association.
 
On four occasions, Gaylord Perry was presented the Will Wynne Award by the Raleigh Hot Stove League as the North Carolinian who contributed the most to baseball in a calendar year.  He was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 1973 and the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991 in his third year of eligibility.  The Giants retired his uniform No. 36 in 2005 and Gaylord was inducted into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame in 2009.
 
Gaylord married his high school sweetheart, the former Blanche Manning.  In 1988, Gaylord started the baseball program at Limestone College in Gaffney, S.C.  He passed away on Dec. 1, 2022 at the age of 84.