by Ed Hebscher and Jim Lafargue
Good Friday turned out to be the kind of day that Gaylord Perry had only
dreamed about. The 1971 season had been somewhat of a disappointment for
Perry. After leading his team in victories the last two seasons, he was
struggling with a 3-4 record coming into the series with the Cleveland
Spiders, making their first trip ever to Newmarket. Teammate Rick Wise
was threatening his status as ace of the staff. A trip to Perry's lucky
drugstore fixed all that, though.
A record afternoon crowd of 59,208 in Newmarket watched as Gaylord created history with the first perfect game on Canadian soil and the first no-hitter for the EH's franchise.
The crowd came out to see the many Spider sluggers, Dick Allen, Willie Horton, Rick Monday and Canadian favorites Maury Wills and Mel Stottlemyre. A 3-run outbreak by Newmarket in the 3rd inning, with RBI's by Andrews, Oliva and Smith, got the crowd on their feet. Meanwhile, the Spiders were unable to touch Perry for as much as a baserunner as he kept them fooled for the duration of the series opener. He had the Cougars popping the ball up 12 times, causing Dick Allen to remark caustically that he had never seen pitches move in such unnatural directions. On two occasions, the home plate umpire asked to examine the ball, but could find nothing wrong after Perry calmly rolled it to Ed Kirkpatrick. The interruptions did nothing to disturb Perry's rhythm, but rather seemed to increase his confidence.
Perry needed help from his supporting cast, which made three brilliant plays to preserve the gem. In the 5th the Spiders' Maury Wills hit a topper down the third base line but Aurelio Rodriguez made a barehanded pick up and threw out Wills by a step. With two out in the 8th, Wills hit a bullet to center field that was chased down beautifully by Tony Oliva. Another time, Oliva managed to throw out a batter at first base from the outfield to keep the perfecto alive.
From the 7th inning on the crowd hung on every pitch thrown by Perry. The anticipation was rewarded when Gaylord struck out pinch hitter Mike Hershberger swinging to end the game, his fifth K of the day.
Following the game, irritated Cleveland manager Craig Shifflett was heard to say "There was so much moisture coming off Gaylord's pitches that a rain delay should have been called". A spokesman for Brylcreem expressed pride in Perry's achievement, and said that he hoped to extend the pitcher's endorsement contract with the company. (Newmarket, Ont. 4/5/96)
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Cleveland Spiders 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Newmarket EH's 0 0 3 0 1 0 0 0 4 7 0 NAME AB R H RBI 2B 3B HR TB SO BB IBB HBP D. Allen, 1b 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 R. Monday, cf 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 W. Horton, lf 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 W. Crawford, rf 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 F. Millan, 2b 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 M. Wills, ss 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 C. Boyer, 3b 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 J. Grote, c 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 M. Stottlemyre, p 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 M. Jorgensen, ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 J. Moeller, p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 M. Hershberger, ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Totals 27 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 NAME IP H R ER 2B 3B HR BF SO BB IBB HB M. Stottlemyre, L 5.0 5 4 4 4 0 0 24 3 4 0 0 J. Moeller 3.0 2 0 0 1 0 0 13 2 2 0 0 Totals 8.0 7 4 4 5 0 0 37 5 6 0 0 NAME AB R H RBI 2B 3B HR TB SO BB IBB HBP K. Henderson, lf 4 1 2 0 2 0 0 4 0 1 0 0 M. Andrews, 2b 3 2 2 1 1 0 0 3 0 1 0 0 T. Oliva, cf 3 1 1 1 1 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 R. Smith, rf 2 0 1 2 1 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 G. Hopkins, 1b 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 A. Rodriguez, 3b 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 E. Kirkpatrick, c 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 G. Alley, ss 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 G. Perry, p 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 Totals 31 4 7 4 5 0 0 12 5 6 0 0 NAME IP H R ER 2B 3B HR BF SO BB IBB HB G. Perry, W 9.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 27 5 0 0 0 Totals 9.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 27 5 0 0 0
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