The photo Topps chose here, strikes me as a man in his older years, content with his place in the game. A little laid back but serious look with a hint of eagerness in his gaze, knowing his best days are behind him but enjoying the ride as long as it'll last. At the time the picture was taken, perhaps Perry was imagining he might win his 300th game in the same stadium Hank Aaron hit his 715th HR. That would've been a nice twist too—a pitching milestone that hasn't been accomplished in almost 20 years, being done in the same place as a huge hitting milestone.

When spring training opened in 1982, future Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry wasn't signed to any team yet. Being he was just 3 victories short of joining the 300 club, some smart GM was sure to pick him up soon and cash in on the opportunity to get an attendance boost from his presence. But who?

Gaylord Perry's 1981 was very unimpressive, nothing like his peak years. He'd been fading since he won his 2nd Cy Young in 1978 at the age of 40, and just puttering along like an old sloppy jalopy trying to keep up. From 1979-1981, he was a mere 30-33, with a 3.50 ERA, making him pretty average for that period....105 ERA+. So the Atlanta Braves felt they had better pitchers who could fill his slot in the rotation and let him go.

The Seattle Mariners on the other hand, were a team with nothing to lose if Perry didn't work out. So they signed him. Perry missed all of spring training, but made his first start for the Mariners on April 9th. Less than a month later, on May 6 in Seattle's Kingdome against the Yankees, he joined the 300 club. He allowed just 3 ER's in a complete game effort, striking out 4.

By the end of the day, he was just the 15th pitcher to ever achieve this mark and he was 2nd all-time in strikeouts (2nd only to Walter Johnson). He also had a career ERA of exactly 3.00 up through that day, which is interesting since he had only allowed exactly 3 runs in the game, and it was his win # 300.

Some Gaylord Perry stats you won't find on the back of his 1982 Topps card—

• ...he had a 2.96 ERA against the AL West champ California Angels in 1982
• ...had a career winning percentage higher on the road than at home, but a higher ERA on the road too.
• ...when pitching against the Red Sox, he was 22-5 with a 2.40 ERA.
• ...he struck out more Cincinnati Reds (250) than any other team he faced.
• ...from 1966-1978, he was 243-176, 2.82 ERA, 2604 K's, with a 127 ERA+.
• ...in 1974 he lead the AL with a 144 ERA+, but was only 4th in the Cy Young voting results.

Dan Quisenberry had been on the mound since the 7th began, but he wasn't done. He was facing another classic closer by the time the game had gotten this far - Rollie Fingers.

The way these guys pitch, all it would take would be one run. In the top of the 10th, that's what the Royals got. It wasn't easy though, of course. It rarely is, off Rollie Fingers.

Frank White grounded out. Jamie Quirk drew a walk. Greg Pryor flew out to right. With light hitting shortstop Onix Concepcion stepping to the plate against the future Hall of Famer, it seemed like the Royals had no chance to score in the 10th.

But then, this is why they play baseball, you just never know what's really going to happen next.

What happened next, is that Onix hit a blooper into left. Since there were two outs, Jamie Quirk was running as soon as possible. The bloop turned out to be placed just right, that it turned into a bloop double! Jamie, who was known as a slow runner, runs all the way home from first on this little hit in between everybody over in short left.

That's all Quiz needed to seal the win. Although, it wasn't easy.

Jim Gantner singles. Paul Molitor bunts but everybody ends up safe on a throwing error. Suddenly there's two on, nobody out. Dan gets the next batter, Charlie Moore, to ground into a double play. Then he somehow got Robin Yount to ground back to the pitcher to end the game.

Personally, I'd love to have seen the last inning of that game.

After the game, Dan said his teammates call him Peggy Fleming, "It's because I'm a skater. I skate out of jams in the darndest ways."

Anyway, I'm glad they didn't. I don't really like the airbrushing, even if they did get pretty decent at it by '82. What's always really made this card, IMHO, is that he seems to be laughing. Not just smiling, but laughing! How can you not love that?

My main memory of Gary Templeton was from sometime in '84 and it wasn't even a play he made. It was the announcer. The Braves were in San Diego one Sunday afternoon, and at one point during the broadcast, you could hear the Jack Murphy Stadium announcer say "Gary Templeton" but he said it with a swing to it. I loved it! Never forgot that.

Anyway, the reason I'm featuring Gary today, is 'cause on May 4, 1982, he went 2-for-3 with a walk, 2 RBI, & 2 runs scored, against the Expos. Both hits were for extra bases (double & homer).

Coming into this game, the Expos hadn't allowed an opponent to score more than 2 runs in any of their previous 4 games. Suddenly, Templeton smacks in 2 all by himself, helpin' the Padres win 7-3.

Elsewhere on May 4, 1982

In Pittsburgh, the Pirates broke Atlanta's 9-game road win streak. Combined with the Padres win, San Diego gained a game on the Braves and now sat just 2 GB of Atlanta.

I don't know, but it's going to bug me 'til I figure it out.

Anyway, it was 30 years ago today, it was Dauer's Day. No, not some unique promotional thing at Memorial stadium. It was the light hitting Rich Dauer slammed a 2-run homer in the bottom of the 1st, and it was all the Orioles needed. He then made it a 3-0 game in the 5th on an RBI single.

The Orioles would end up scoring 3 more runs and creaming the Mariners 6-0, but Rich got the party started. It might've been just the thing that helped Mike Flanagan relax and pitch an awesome 3 hit shutout.

After this game, it began to look like the Orioles were finally back to their winning ways, as they were 6-3 since that streak ended. Not enough to erase the memory of that horrid 9-game losing streak yet, but enough to ease the pain a bit.

Elsewhere on Monday, May 3, 1982

Meanwhile in Boston, the red hot Red Sox beat up the Twins. Dave Stapleton smacks an inside-the-park home run that doesn't even go 300 ft, as Boston wins its 12th in their last 13 games. They now lead the AL East by 2 games over the idle Tigers.

Montreal's lineup was all over Bob Welch as soon as the game began. Welch got through two outs, and Lasorda replaced him with Ted Power. Even Power wasn't enough though, he just slowed 'em down a little. Both pitchers gave up 4 runs, so the Expos finished the 5th inning with 8 runs.

After a while it became 12 runs. Then 13 runs.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers weren't getting anything they could hit solid off Steve Rogers. He racked up 9 strikeouts and didn't allow any extra base hits. L.A. managed to push a couple runners into scoring position in the 2nd, but a quick lineout to shortstop for the 3rd out killed any possibility of actually scoring.

Gary Carter said of Steve, "He had all of his pitches, forkball, slider, curveball".

So by the time the Dodgers came to the plate in the bottom of the 9th, baseball's rule of 9 innings, suddenly seemed like a mercy killing. The only run they scratched out, was an unearned one. The throwing error would've been the 3rd out.

The only bright spot for Dodger fans was when Steve Garvey pinch hit. This was his first non-starting game since May 26, 1980, and this pinch hitting appearance kept his consecutive games streak rolling. Although, that's not really a bright spot, I'm trying hard to find something to make Night Owl smile.

That was Steve Rogers and the Expos in 1982. All summer long he was shutting lineups down. He finished the season 19-8 with a league leading 2.40 ERA. His 2.76 FIP was 3rd in the majors behind Steve Carlton and Mario Soto.

By the time he finished his one season in Seattle, teams weren't exactly sure what they'd get from him. It probably didn't help his case that he was willing to talk negatively in public about his old team in Atlanta. If I were a GM, I sure wouldn't want to sign a possible problem to my roster.

Somehow he ended up on the A's. He signed a one-year contract with them a few days after the season began, but he apparently played for them without a contract during some exhibition games.

Good news for the A's -- Jeff could still take a walk. Through May 1 when he drew a walk to load the bases with no outs, his BA was just .227 but his OBP was a massive .414. In his 30 PA, he actually drew more walks than base hits. Even though he was playing very little, that's kinda impressive.

He actually gave Oakland quite a bit of value after his slow April start, hitting .283/.371/.517 with 15 HR & 46 RBI in just 307 PA. According to both Fangraphs & B-R, Jeff gave the A's 2.1 WAR for the season as a whole.

Elsewhere on May 1, 1982

In Cincinnati, the Reds Dan Driessen slams his first career grand slam and Reds starter Mario Soto finally earns his first victory of the season.

In Fenway, the Rangers lose their 8th straight game on a 12th inning RBI single by Boston's Dave Stapleton.

Phil "scrap iron" Garner is another one of those guys who came to the majors as part of the Swingin' A's of the early 70's. He made the All-Star team in his final season wearing Kelly green and gold, but really made a name for himself in Pittsburgh.

He helped the Pirates win the '79 World Series, then made consecutive All-Star appearances to kick of the 80's. Only three weeks after the '81 midsummer classic, he was traded to Houston.

The next time Pittsburgh faced Houston, it would come back to haunt them. In the 2nd game of a a 3 game series in Pittsburgh, Garner slammed a 3-2 pitch out of the park for a 3-run blast that was all the Astros needed to beat the Pirates on April 30, 1982, 4-3.

Amusingly, Phil turned 33 that day. A 3-run homer, in the 3rd inning, on a 3-2 pitch, on the 30th, when he turned 33. I get a kick out of all those 3's. Two years earlier, he'd smacked 2 homers to help his team down Montreal.

1982 turned out to be his best season since 1979, with a career high in RBI and OPS+, and just about all his important numbers (BA/OBP/SLG, 2B, & 3B) were better than anything he'd done in '80 or '81. Ironically, he didn't make the All-Star team though. Slow starts can do that.

Elsewhere on Friday, April 30, 1982

In New York, Gaylord Perry gets credited with his 299th victory.

On April 28, '82, Britt Burns and the White Sox found out just how tough those Brewers could be. Milwaukee hadn't even heated up yet, and they were tough.

Britt tossed a very good game, allowing just 4 hits, walking just 3, and keeping the ball on the ground. Yet, he got tagged with a CG loss. They were more common back then than they are now, but still weren't all that common.

Interestingly, he didn't allow more than 1 base runner in any inning -- except the 7th. Even then, Britt didn't give 'em much. He walked Stormin' Gorman and allowed a single to Jim Gantner. Unfortunately, that was enough for the Brew Crew to take a 2-1 lead.

After that 7th inning single, Burns got the next 4 outs and finished the game. The White Sox offense just couldn't get anything going against Rollie Fingers though, leaving Britt on the losing end.

You may not realize this, but Britt Burns was once one of the most promising young lefties in the majors. In fact, from '80 through April '82, he was perhaps the best starter in the American League. Don't believe me? Just check out the ERA leaders for MLB starters (min 10 GS, 130 IP) during that period—

Nice company eh? The next AL starter on the list is a full 7 places below Burns, is Mike Norris with a 2.99 ERA. So Britt was pretty impressive, keepin' pace with NL starters who never had to face a DH. In fact, most of the guys above him on that list, usually pitch in pitcher's parks on top of not facing DH's.

But, not so fast. Things aren't always what they appear. In his next 423⅓ innings, his ERA balloons to over 4.00. What changed? Well, if we compare some of his defense independent stats for the two periods—

Fascinating eh? His FIP and related stats show he was the same as he ever was. So the difference must've been in Chicago's defense, which makes sense 'cause we see more balls dropped for hits in the 2nd period than the 2st.

This is what the White Sox didn't know, when they signed him in early '82 to "the heftiest contract ever for a White Sox pitcher". Anyone who felt he was a bust, just didn't realize that he wasn't doing any better or worse than before the contract.

Anyway...

Bob was one of those players that, whenever he did anything remotely notable, my local news channel's would make sure to add it to their sports highlights. That's 'cause his first minor league season, was in my town.

That happened with a number of Boston players when I was a kid. Which is why I grew up likin' the Red Sox about as much as the Yankees. how could I not root for the guys who used to play in my town? I wanted them to succeed.

The BoSox began '82 very successful. They rode a 7 game win streak into their April 27th game against the Royals. Dennis Eckersley got the start and he just didn't have it that night. Kansas City managed a pair of HR's and several hits off Eck in just 4 innings.

Fortunately, for Boston, the Royals starter Dave Frost was having a rough game too. So the score was tied at 5 after 4 innings.

Eckersley started the 5th, but gave up a couple singles. That's when Red Sox manager decided he'd seen enough, and trotted Bob Stanley in to relieve Eck, and is nothing short of brilliant.

Stanley gets Amos Otis to hit into a double play, and Hal McRae to fly out. Gettin' McRae out in '82 when there's a runner on 3rd and 2 outs, was a very tough thing to do. He led the majors in RBI% and batted .333/.500/.667 in that situation.

The rest of the game was pretty smooth sailing. He didn't strike out anybody, but he induced 11 ground balls. The Royals were only able to hit 2 in the air, and that includes McRae's flyout.

This win for Boston, made them the seventh club to have an eight game streak of wins or losses, before it was even May—

1. Braves (13 wins, Apr 6 - 21)
2. Cardinals (12 wins, Apr 11 - 24)
3. Padres (11 wins, Apr 14 - 27)
4. Orioles (9 losses, Apr 11 - 23)
5. White Sox (8 wins, Apr 11 - 18)
6. Tigers (8 wins, Apr 17 - 24)
7. Red Sox (8 wins, Apr 20 - 27)

Unfortunately for the Red Sox, this was the last game in their streak.

As for Bob, this game, as well as some equally impressive outings on May 22nd & September 18th, were all part of his record season of 168 1/3 relief innings. Nobody ever did that before 1982, or since. The closest anybody's gotten is 157 innings. A 1983 SI article about his '82, notes that he remarkably "went four or more innings 18 times" and ammassed "14 saves without ever pitching less than 1 innings". Actually he didn't get any 1 inning saves, 'cause his shortest save was 1 1/3. I'd like to see some reliever try that for a season nowadays. Ha!

Elsewhere on Tuesday, April 27, 1982

In Cleveland, an unusual situation. Toby Harrah is ejected from the game for using an illegal bat in the 1st inning. Cleveland plays under protest, and lose to Seattle.

In San Diego, the Padres beat the Mets for their 11th straight victory and a share of 1st place in the NL West at the end of the day.