Aww, this is sad

Gaylord Perry, King of the Spitball, has died at 84.

Yeah, he cheated, but everyone knew he was cheating, and loved him anyway. And he was only caught once in his long, illustrious career; he was always my anti-hero.

Perry was famous for using Vaseline to alter his pitches; a true greaseball artist.

Perry learned his famed pitch from Bob Shaw in 1964, when they were teammates with the Giants. While there were many attempts to catch Perry in the act of loading up the baseball.

He was, though ejected from a game just once for doctoring a baseball — when he was with Seattle in August 1982. In his final season with Kansas City, Perry and teammate Leon Roberts tried to hide George Brett’s infamous pine-tar bat in the clubhouse but was stopped by a guard. Perry was ejected for his role in that game, too.

During the 1971 NCLS between the Giants and Pittsburgh Pirates, Perry’s 5-year-old daughter Allison was famously asked by a television reporter if he threw the greaseball. 

“It’s a hard slider,” she said. 

….

Fred Lynn also shared a message on Twitter on Thursday.

“We lost a great competitor today. Gaylord Perry. Faced him when he was going for #300. Every pitch dropped about a foot…mmmm. Was a good guy and we shared some great stories. #RIP,” wrote Lynn.