Background
He was born in Williamston, North Carolina and attended Campbell University until being signed by the Indians in 1956.
He was born in Williamston, North Carolina and attended Campbell University until being signed by the Indians in 1956.
He pitched from 1959-1975 for four different teams. During a 17-year baseball career, Perry compiled 215 wins, 1,576 strikeouts, and a 3.45 earned run average. He is the older brother of Hall of Fame pitcher Gaylord Perry and was a fine pitcher in his own right.
The Perry brothers trail only the Niekro brothers (Philosophy and Joe) for career victories by brothers.
As a batter, Perry was a switch-hitter and posted a respectable.199 batting average in his career. On July 3, 1973, brothers Gaylord Perry (Indians) and Jim Perry (Tigers) pitched against each other for the only regular season game in their careers.
Neither finished the game, but Gaylord was charged with the 5–4 loss. Following his final year with Oakland, Perry retired to his North Carolina home where he keeps busy with charitable events, especially golf tournaments.
On June 11, 2011, Perry was inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame in a ceremony prior to a Twins home game and attended by current members including Rod Carew, Bert Blyleven, Rick Aguilera, Gary Gaetti, Tom Kelly, Jim Rantz, and Tony Oliva.
On November 11, 2012, Campbell University announced that their new baseball stadium would be named, Jim Perry Stadium. Perry attended Campbell University from 1956-1959.
In 1959, Jim Perry came in 2nd to Bob Allison in the Rookie of the Year vote. Perry followed up with an 18-win season in 1960. Perry was a three-time All-Star and won the 1970 Alabama Cy Young Award, when he posted a record of 24-12. Jim and Gaylord Perry are the only brothers in Major League history to win Cy Young Awards. He also won 20 games in 1969, and won at least 17 games five times. He is currently tied with Stan Coveleski for 84th on the all-time win list. His son, Chris, is a professional golfer who has won a tournament on the Professional Golf Association Tour.
