Baseball Legends: Gaylord Perry (Giants 1962-1971, Indians 1972-1975, Rangers 1975-1977, 1980, Padres 1978-1979, Yankees 1980, Braves 1981, Mariners 1982-1983, Royals 1983)

“He should be in the Hall of Fame with a tube of KY Jelly attached to his plaque.” ~ Gene Mauch

Bob Gibson will forever be remembered for his 1968 season. Nolan Ryan for his seven no-hitters and 5000 strikeouts. Don Larsen for his perfect game in the World Series. And Gaylord Perry for his spitball.

The stories about Perry’s doctored pitch abound, even from former teammates. Catcher Gene Tenace said, “I can remember a couple of occasions when I couldn’t throw the ball back to him because it was so greasy that it slipped out of my hands. I just walked out to the mound and flipped the ball back to him.” Despite the anecdotal evidence, he was not ejected from a game for doctoring the ball until 1982, near the end of his career. For that incident, he was suspended for ten games.

Baseball Legends: Larry Doby (Indians 1947-1955, 1958, White Sox 1956-1957, 1959, Tigers 1959)

“I knew being accepted was going to be hard, but I knew I was involved in a situation that was going to bring opportunities to other blacks.” – Larry Doby

Larry Doby was the second African American player to play in the Major Leagues. That is kind of like the second man to walk on the moon, or the second man to break the sound barrier. Most people could not tell you their name. Doby was signed by the Cleveland Indians eleven weeks after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier by Bill Veeck. While Jackie is fondly remembered by everyone, Doby is rarely named in the same breath. He was the first black player in the American League, and thus became the answer to a trivia question.

Baseball Legends: Stanley Coveleski (A’s 1912, Indians 1916-1924, Senators 1925-1927, Yankees 1928)

I chose Stanley Coveleski for a couple of reasons. The first is the fact that he is Polish. As a Polish-American I can relate to him. I even know what it is like to have your name misspelled. On the card to the left you can see the misspelling. One reason for the misspelling is the fact that he changed his name. He was born Stanislaus Kowalewski.

The second reason that I chose to write about him is that our local minor league team the South Bend Silverhawks named their stadium after him. He moved to the area after his playing days were over, and made such an impact that they name Coveleski Stadium in his honor.

Baseball Legends: Bob Feller (Indians 1936-1941, 1945-1956)

Bob Feller is one of those players that shows why the book The Greatest Generation was right. He pitched his entire 18 year career for the Cleveland Indians. He amassed 266 wins and 2,581 strikeouts in his career. Those numbers could have been better, but Bob joined the Navy the day after Pearl Harbor was attacked and missed four full seasons. During his time in battle he was decorated with five campaign ribbons, and eight battle stars.

When he returned from the war the next season he won 26 games and struck out 348 batters. Another amazing fact about Robert was that during his career he pitched three no-hitters and 12 one-hitters. This man was dominant. Bob’s fastball was legendary. In his day we did not have the technology that we have today, but his fastball was clocked at 98 mph at the plate. This was late in his career when he had lost some velocity already. Today’s radar readings are taken as the ball leaves the pitchers hand. He must have been nasty to face.

Baseball Legends: Ralph Kiner (Pirates 1946-1953, Cubs 1953-1954, Indians 1955)

Ralph Kiner is crucial to my love of baseball; to me he will always be the voice of Mets play-by-play, along with the wonderful Lindsey Nelson and Bob Murphy. His signature home run call: “It is gone, goodbye.” Mr. Kiner is still contributing to broadcasts and can offer a great story for any occasion.

He had a great postgame show called Kiner’s Korner in which he interviewed perspiring Mets about all the reasons they lost. He is known for some malapropisms, but Kiner also came up with gems. One of my favorites: in describing Phil Niekro’s knuckleball he said, “It’s like watching Mario Andretti park a car.”