Recently observed was the 45th Anniversary of Hall of Fame Pitcher Gaylor Perry’s first career home run.  Why do we care?  Because it’s a great story, too good not to be true.  Legend has it that sometime after Perry joind the San Francisco Giants as a rookie in 1962, an unamed sports writer and Giants Manager Alvin Dark were having a conversation near the batting cage while the rookie Perry took batting practice.  As Perry sprayed line drives all over the diamond, the writer remarked to Dark “that Perry kid’s got some pop in his bat”, to which Dark replied “there will be a man on the moon before Gaylord Perry hits a home run”.

Years passed, Perry was embarked on a fantastic pitching career, Alvin Dark had moved on to manage the Cleveland Indians.  On July 21, 1969 the San Francisco Giants were playing the Los Angeles Dodgers – when Neal Armstrong took his first steps on the moon, it was announced to the fans in attendance.  About 20 minutes later, Gaylord Perry came up to bat and ….hit his first career home run.