50 Moments — Gaylord Perry Became Second Padre to Win Cy Young Award in 1978
By Bill Center
Gaylord Perry’s time with the San Diego Padres was short . . . and sweet.
The Padres acquired the 6-foot-4 right-handed starter from the Texas Rangers on Jan. 25, 1978, for right-handed pitcher and $125,000 in cash.
The Padres traded Perry back to the Rangers on Feb. 15, 1980, with Tucker Ashford and a minor leaguer for outfielder Willie Montanez.
But in two seasons with the Padres, Perry won 33 games and was the National League Cy Young Award winner in 1978 — earning the honor just two years after Randy Jones.
Perry was 39 years old when he joined the Padres. San Diego was the fourth stop on a 22-year Major League career that saw Perry win 314 games and post a 3.11 earned run average over 777 games (690 starts) for eight different teams.
Perry was voted into the Hall of Fame in 1991.
Of course, Perry was also a subject of friendly controversy, particularly toward the end of his career, as rivals accused him of doctoring the baseball.
Perry’s best season with the Padres was his first in 1978.
He went 21–6 with a 2.73 ERA in 37 starts. He worked 260 2/3 innings, allowing 96 runs (79 earned) on 241 hits and 66 walks against 154 strikeouts. He had a 1.178 WHIP and a .248 opponents’ batting average. Less than 30 percent of the hitters he faced reached base and Perry gave up a home run every 29 innings.
Perry capped his season in his penultimate start on Sept. 26 in San Francisco. Not only did he get his 21st win against his original Major League team, he reached the career 3,000-strikeout milestone. Perry was the National League Pitcher of the Month for September, going 6–0 with a 1.32 ERA in seven starts. Opponents hit .200 against Perry in September.
Not only was he the first pitcher to win the Cy Young Award in both leagues, Perry finished eighth in the voting for the National League’s Most Valuable Player.
Perry led the National League in wins and win-loss percentage (.778). He also finished second in the league in games started, fourth in the league in innings pitched, placed sixth in ERA, tied for ninth in strikeouts.
On the Padres’ all-time list of single-season leaders, only Jones won more games and made more starts than Perry recorded in 1978. Perry’s winning percentage is a still-standing franchise record.
In his second and final season with the Padres, Perry went 12–11 in 1979 with a 3.06 ERA and a 1.255 WHIP in 32 starts. In two seasons with the Padres, Perry posted a 33–17 record (a .660 winning percentage) with a 2.88 ERA and a 1.214 WHIP in 69 starts covering 493 1/3 innings.
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Top 50 Padres Moments (in chronological order):
- National League votes to expand into Montreal and San Diego (May 27, 1968)
- Padres stocked with players in National League expansion draft (Oct. 14, 1968)
- Padres win their Major League debut (April 8, 1969)
- Clay Kirby removed from a no-hitter (July 21, 1970)
- Nate Colbert’s five-homer, 13-RBI doubleheader in Atlanta (Aug. 1, 1972)
- 1973, the year San Diego nearly lost the Padres
- Ray Kroc buys the Padres (Jan. 25, 1974)
- Ray Kroc grabs the microphone during his first home game as the Padres owner (April 9, 1974)
- Randy Jones National League Cy Young Award (1976)
- Shortstop Ozzie Smith’s greatest defensive play in Padres’ history (April 20, 1978)
- Padres host 1978 All-Star Game (July 11, 1978)
- Gaylord Perry wins 1978 National League Cy Young Award
