San Diego Padres On This Day: Gaylord Perry Makes MLB History

On this day in San Diego Padres history, Gaylord Perry made MLB history.

Since 1956, Major League Baseball has given out the Cy Young Award to the top pitcher in baseball, named in honor of legendary pitcher Cy Young who passed away one year earlier. For the first 11 years, only one recipient won the honor, with Brooklyn Dodgers Don Newcombe winning the first award. Beginning in 1967, one winner from each league was chosen and in 1978 a San Diego Padres pitcher made history.

Playing for the Cleveland Indians in 1972, Gaylord Perry took home his first Cy Young Award after posting a 24-16 season with a 1.92 earned run average. Six years later, Perry posted a 21-6 season with a 2.73 ERA with the San Diego Padres and was awarded his second Cy Young Award.

He became the first major league pitcher to win a Cy Young Award in both the American and National League. Since then, Pedro Martinez, Roger Clemens, Roy Halladay, Max Scherzer, and Randy Johnson are the only other pitchers in MLB history to win the award in both leagues.

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Gaylord and his brother Jim (1970 Minnesota Twins) are the only brother combination to take home the award.

Perry wasn’t the first Friar to win the Cy Young Award. That honor goes to Randy Jones who won the 1976 award with his 22-14, 2.74 ERA performance. Mark Davis and Jake Peavy are the only other two Padres pitchers to win the award.

Gaylord Perry pitched 22 seasons in his career (1962-1983), playing for the Padres, San Francisco Giants, Texas Rangers, Cleveland Indians, Seattle Mariners, Kansas City Royals, Atlanta Braves, and New York Yankees. He finished with a 314-265 record, 3.11 ERA, 303 complete games, 53 shutouts, and 3, 534 strikeouts in 5,350 innings.

He made five All-Star games and was inducted into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991.