The Daily Southerner, Tarboro, NC

Sports

September 3, 2008

Perry welcomes Lee into 20-win club

The Associated Press Associated Press

Gaylord Perry tossed the rods in the back of his pickup truck and got ready to do some fly fishing in Yellowstone Park. First, though, he had to find a newspaper.

Without a TV or radio, Perry didn’t know if Cliff Lee had gotten his 20th win.

Once he saw Monday night’s Cleveland-Chicago box score and that Lee was indeed a 20-game winner — the Indians’ first since Perry in 1974 — the Hall of Fame pitcher with the legendary spitball resumed his vacation.

“I was so very pleased that Cliff had a great, great game,” Perry, a native of Williamston, said over the phone on Tuesday. “Plus, he got a shutout.”

Lee, who spent part of 2007 in the minor leagues, became the Indians’ first 20-game winner in 34 years on Monday night when he tossed a five-hitter against the White Sox.

Lee (20-2) dominated one of the AL’s hardest-hitting teams, holding the AL Central-leading White Sox to five singles with another efficient performance in a season of them. He joined Perry along with Hall of Famers Bob Feller, Bob Lemon, Early Wynn and 20 others who have worn a Cleveland uniform in the 20-win club.

With pitch counts, relief specialists and overly controlling managers, 20-game winners are far more rare than when Perry, who won 314 games in 22 seasons, pitched. In 1974, the AL had nine pitchers win 20 games. Last season, Boston’s Josh Beckett was the league’s only 20-game winner, and the year before, no pitcher reached the 20-win plateau.

The 69-year-old Perry — his birthday is on Sept. 15 — said winning 20 games is much harder these days.

“It’s probably 50 percent tougher,” he said. “You don’t see as many complete games. I won a lot of games in the eighth and ninth innings because my teammates made good plays or I got me some runs. I’d say it’s twice as tough to win 20 games.

“So when someone does that, you’d better keep him.”

Perry, who lives in Spruce Pine, N.C., went 21-13 in ’74 for the Indians. That season, he pitched 322 innings, made 37 starts and completed 28 games — a remarkable number when you consider Toronto’s Roy Halladay led the league with seven last season.

Perry feels pitchers could stay in games longer if they just insisted upon it.

“I used to argue with managers all the time,” he said.

He recalled how after he was traded from Cleveland to Texas in 1975, Rangers manager Billy Martin came out to the mound in the ninth inning of a tight game against the New York Yankees to relieve him. Perry, who was beating Catfish Hunter 1-0 at the time, wasn’t coming out without a fight.

“I met Billy before he got to the foul line and said, ’You ain’t taking my butt out,”’ Perry said with a laugh. “I think pitchers, if they want to, can go nine or more. You have to know yourself and you have to know if you’re helping your team. I think you’re going to see more pitchers go more innings in the near future.”

Following his milestone win, Lee, who briefly met Perry during All-Star game festivities in July at Yankee Stadium, joked that he wouldn’t mind learning how to throw a spitball like Perry’s.

“He doesn’t need one, man,” Perry said. “He’s 20-2. He should throw what he’s got. Tell him if he wants to throw slop, I’ll be there for him.”

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