#316 - Jim Perry

We move now from a guy whose career was brand new to one near the end of his. Jim, the older of the pitching Perry brothers, poses rather nobly at Yankee Stadium in an undated photo. This shot was definitely taken before '73 since Jim is airbrushed into his Tiger uniform, and I have a hunch a few years earlier. A Twin for a long time he enjoyed a mid-career revival when the leagues were split into divisions. In '73 he landed in Detroit where he had a pretty good season as the third starter. During the year he went up against his brother for the only regular season game in either of their careers. The game was a pretty big deal because it was the first time any two brothers started against each other in the AL (the Niekro's had pulled the trick in the NL in '69). The game didn't really live up to the hype as Gaylord took the loss and Jim wasn't around for the decision. The next season they'd be together but this time for the same team.

Jim Perry was born and raised in North Carolina where he and his brother alternated between pitching and third base. According to Jim during his senior year the two threw nine consecutive shutouts. Jim then attended Campbell College where he played baseball (and perhaps hoops) for three years. In '56 he was signed by Cleveland for $4,000 and went to D ball that summer. A big fastballer then, he went 7-8 with a 4.80 ERA but over a strikeout an inning. In '57 he moved to C ball and while the K totals came in the other stats improved: 15-12 with a 2.88 ERA. He then got promoted to A ball, picked up a slider and went 16-8 with a 2.79 ERA with excellent control. He'd also hit .259 in the minors and in '59 he made the Cleveland roster.

Perry had an excellent debut year, initially pitching out of the pen but by the end of the season joining the rotation. His 12-10 record and 2.65 ERA - which would have been third in the AL if he had enough innings - got him second place in AL ROY voting to Bobby Allison and a spot on the Topps team. His sophomore year a 10-4 start got everyone excited and though he cooled off a bit his AL-leading 18 wins would be a career high for a while. He also led the AL with four shutouts and 35 starts. Jim's first season Cleveland was a pretty good team but bad trades in '61 and later rendered them pretty impotent for the next few seasons and in '61 that caught up to Jim as his record reversed itself and his ERA flew. In '62 he evened his record and lowered his ERA but the honeymoon in Cleveland was over and early in '63 he was traded to the Twins for Jack Kralick, another pitcher.

Perry finished '63 in the Minnesota rotation pulling his ERA back to earth. In '64 he was used as a reliever and '65 began that way as well before injuries kicked him into the rotation and he posted the best ERA of any starter, helping the Twins reach the Series. The next three seasons would see him shuttle between the pen and the rotation, each year with very good numbers. In '69 Jim's old teammate Billy Martin became manager and one of his first decisions was to put Jim into the rotation full time. Billy's managing cred was solidified when Jim won 20 and the Twins won the division. Then, though Billy left, Jim topped himself to kick off the 70's, winning 24 to tie for the AL lead, and winning the Cy Young. The next year although he earned his second consecutive All-Star nod, the long ball found him again and his record evened out as his ERA flew partly on the AL-leading 39 homers surrendered. After a sub-.500 season in '72 he was traded to Detroit for pitcher Danny Fife.

In spring training of '74 Perry returned to Cleveland in a three-team deal that had Jerry Moses go to Detroit from NY and Walt Williams and Rick Sawyer to the Yankees from Cleveland. Back with his brother for the first time since high school, Jim put up a great season, combining with Gaylord for 38 wins. That year at age 38 Jim went 17-12 with a 2.96 ERA. It would be his last good season as a 1-6 start with a 6.69 ERA to kick off '74 got him sent to Oakland with Dick Bosman for Blue Moon Odom. Although he improved to 3-4 for the A's Jim was released that August. He finished with a 215-174 record with a 3.45 ERA, 109 complete games, 32 shutouts, and ten saves. He also hit nearly .200 up top. In the post-season he was 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA in five games. He and Gaylord remain the only brothers who have each won the Cy.

After playing, Perry returned to North Carolina where for a long time he based himself as a scout for the A's. He also has taken part in a bunch of fund-raising golf tournaments there and done some pr work for the Twins. In 2011 he was named to the Twins' Hall of Fame.

Jim only gets space for one star bullet but it's one that's tough to top. I have no idea who his off-season employer was.

On this date in 1974 Stevie Wonder appeared publicly for the first time in five months at a music festival in Cannes. The appearance was a big deal because immediately after his last one he was in a nasty car accident in which he was almost killed.

Getting an old guy and a new guy together can be tough:

1. Perry and Buddy Bell '74 to '75 Indians;

2. Bell and Charlie Hough '80 to '85 Rangers;

3. Hough and Ron Cey '71 to '79 Dodgers.

#250 - Willie McCovey

For the last double card post in a while we get a Hall of Famer. Willie McCovey gets a double card since he is airbrushed into his new team for '74 , the Padres. It's not a particularly great job but at least Willie's smiling. This would be two Traded cards in a row but that might have been a bit much - two Traded cards (a Washington and San Diego one) and a regular Giants card? It would have been nicer I think to do the Beckert thing and just have Willie in his old uniform with the Padres heading. The Washington card is the first one I purchased just for this blog since it had eluded me before.

Willie gets a serious card number in this set and while in some ways his numbers for '73 may seem undeserving, there were some special considerations. He crossed the 400 line in career homers. He had a pretty big comeback season, boosting his average by 50 points and more than doubling his homer and RBI totals from an injury-plagued '72. It was also his last year - for a while at least - as a Giant. So the honor was probably fitting.

Like some fellow HOF guys and other players in this set - Aaron, Otis, and Cleon Jones - Willie McCovey came out of Mobile, Alabama and was signed by the Giants in '55 when he was 17. In Class D ball that year he smoked pitchers for a .305 average and 117 RBI's in 107 games. After a '56 in B ball where he hit .310 with 91 RBI's he jumped the next season to Double A where he slowed a bit to .281 but still moved up to spend '58 and the first part of '59 at Triple A where he hit .372 with 29 homers and 92 RBI's in only 349 at bats the second season. He came up to San Francisco that July 30, got four hits in his debut against Robin Roberts, and won NL Rookie of the Year with a .354 average in 52 games. Willie, a first baseman, had a little competition ahead of him there in the form of the prior season's ROY Orlando Cepeda. In '60 Cepeda got moved to the outfield to make some room for Willie who returned to post the classic sophomore jinx season, his average dropping over 100 points as his weight ballooned from all the banquets he attended in his rookie year honor. While things picked up a bit in '61 Willie still wouldn't see a full season of playing time until '63 after he posted a pretty impressive half-season the prior year when he began to pick up some outfield time. A lefty, he was platooned that season and would famously hit into the last out of that year's Series. But in '63 now a more-or-less full-time outfielder, he recorded his first big power year with 44 homers and over 100 RBIs. After an off '64 when he had his first knee problems, he returned in '65 to recapture first in the wake of Cepeda's trade to the Cards. That year he recorded the first of what would be six successive years of over 30 homers. He wouldn't break the 100 mark in ribbies again until '68 when he had a great season in a tough year to do so for hitters. It was a nice prelude to his MVP season of '69 when on top of his listed stats he posted an OBA of .453 which was insane back then. His '70 was nearly as good but it would be his last full season for a while as knee and foot problems started keeping him out of the lineup. '71 was pretty good for roughly half a season and he kicked butt in the playoffs against Pittsburgh - .429 with two homers and six RBIs in four games - but '72 was a disaster and although the '73 rebound was nice, Willie, who was 35, was sent to the Padres for Mike Caldwell as the Giants pursued a younger team, also dumping Juan Marichal.

For San Diego McCovey took over first base from Nate Colbert and put up stats his first two seasons that happily resembled '73 more than they did '72. He averaged .253 with 23 homers and 65 RBI's. But in '75 his walk totals came in pretty hard and his OBA dropped from .416 to .345, setting the stage for a pretty awful '76. Willie's knees were a mess, he lost starting time to Mike Ivie, and late in the season he was sold to the A's to help down the stretch. But after hitting .208 with zero RBIs in a few games, he wasn't re-signed and he returned to the Giants as a free agent. After off-season surgery he was expected to ramp things up a bit but the year he had exceeded all expectations: .280 with 28 homers, 86 RBIs, and a .367 OBA that won him the NL Comeback Player of the Year. In his 40's Willie did the slow ease, recording his 500th homer in '78 and playing things out in '80, thereby extending his career to four decades. He finished with a .270 average, 521 homers, 1,555 RBIs, a .370 OBA, and six All-Star appearances. In the post-season he hit .310 with three homers and seven RBIs in eight games. He was elected to the Hall in '86. After playing he settled into admin roles for the Giants, played some golf, and had a million knee operations. He has been getting around mostly by wheelchair the past few years and in '03 opened a restaurant in California that has been quite successful. He has a statue at the new stadium and of course, McCovey's Cove, where Barry Bonds has hit tons of homers.

Willie's card revives the little traded print. He only has room for some brief star bullets but they're awfully good ones.

This one is easier than I thought it would be:

1. McCovey and Vic Harris '77 to '78 Giants;
2. Harris and George Mitterwald '74 to '75 Cubs.

#146 - Ron Fairly

Now Ron Fairly gets to pose in that weird compound that Ken Singleton was in many posts ago. Ron is smack in the middle of a genuine part of the field however. And he looks calm enough despite what appear to be a bunch of paratroopers milling around in the background. I guess he'd seen it all by then. Ron was about to embark on a pretty good season in '73, posting one of his best averages while putting up a .422 OBA and grabbing his first All-Star nod.

Ron Fairly was a Georgia kid who played at USC where in '58 he was one of the Trojan leaders of the CWS champs. He was signed that year by the Dodgers and put in some brief stops at Single and Triple A levels before getting some outfield time in LA at the end of the season. He stayed up for all of '59 getting enough at bats as a mostly defensive replacement to make the Topps Rookie All-Star team that year. In '60 the outfield was pretty crowded and Ron spent the season at Triple A Spokane where he hit .303 with 27 homers and 100 RBIs, as well as a .418 OBA. In '61 Duke Snider got hurt, allowing Ron to get back in the outfield. Also, due to Gil Hodges aging out, first base was made ready for big Frank Howard. But Ron stole the position by hitting .322 with 48 RBIs in about half a season. He would serve at first the next couple seasons as the transition guy between Hodges and Wes Parker. He was a very good fielder, particularly at covering bunts, and was adept at getting on base. He also knew the rules and during the pennant drive of '63 he saved a win by getting a Joe Adcock homer called back. In '65 Parker came up and Ron moved to the outfield, replacing Tommy Davis. His best position was right field since although he had a good arm, he was notoriously slow. He would be a consistent hitter and in '65 would have a great Series, tagging Twins pitchers for a .379 average with a couple homers and six RBIs. In '67 and '68 Ron's numbers came in as LA sunk fast and after a month-plus in '69 he and Paul Popovich were traded to Montreal for Maury Wills and Manny Mota.

For the Expos, Fairly would have a bit of a resurgence, playing primarily first base again through '71, and his full-season numbers would match his best during his Dodgers days. After Mike Jorgensen arrived in '72 Ron would also play a bunch in the outfield. In '73 Ron moved to the top of the order so his RBI numbers came in a bit. In '74 his numbers and playing time decreased and in '75 he went to the Cards for a couple minor leaguers. For St. Louis he again did the transitional thing as he was helpful in easing Keith Hernandez into the first baseman spot and Ron put up really nice numbers: a .301 average with 13 doubles, seven homers, and 37 RBIs in only 229 at bats. He also had an OBA of .421. In '76 He got less time as Keith established himself and late in the season he was sold to Oakland where he got some time at first and as a pinch hitter. For '77 he was basically sold to the new Toronto Blue Jays and there he set his high with 19 homers while playing first and the outfield along with DH-ing. He also made it into his second All-Star team. He is the only player to be an All-Star from both Canadian teams. For '78 he went to the Angels for Pat Kelly (NOT the one from this blog) where he did his first and DH thing, getting ten homers and 40 RBIs in under half a season. That was it for Ron as his dream to play in four decades didn't pan out. For his career he was a .264 hitter with 215 homers - he is the only player with over 200 homers lifetime without hitting 20 in a single season - and 1,044 RBIs. His OBA was .360 and he was a .300 hitter in the post-season.

Following his playing career Fairly jumped into broadcasting for the Angels ('79 to '86), San Francisco ('87 to '92), and the Mariners ('93 to 2006). He is also doing some color work this season for Seattle as part of a rotating group.


Ron's middle name is Ray but that looks like an L to me in his signature. Those two homers were actually hit in '65 (Ron went o-fer in '59). And his shovel throw was part of his bunt coverage at which he excelled. He also teamed well at Montreal with Rusty Staub defensively which is interesting because they were probably the two slowest guys in the league. When Ron played for the Blue Jays his manager was Roy Hartsfield, who was also his first manager in the minors.

Ron just misses connecting to Alston, for whom he played a bunch of years. Here, though, we hook him up to Dock Ellis. They missed each other by a year.

1. Fairly and Mike Jorgensen '72 to '74 Expos;
2. Jorgensen and Dock Ellis '77 A's and '78 to '79 Rangers.