SEATTLE -- Gaylord Perry of the Seattle Mariners vowed to strike back Tuesday after American League president Lee MacPhail levied a 10-day suspension and a $250 fine against him for allegedly throwing an 'illegal pitch.'
The suspension and fine were stayed for the time being when Perry immediately appealed the action, with the full backing of the Mariners' management.
'It's a joke, I didn't do anything wrong. The umpire -- he lied,' an indignant Perry said.
In addition to his appeal, Perry said he would file a complaint about the officiating of home plate umpire Dave Phillips, in hopes Phillips and his whole crew would officiate no more Mariner games this season.
'He will have his day in court,' Perry said.
The 43-year-old right-hander was charged with violating official baseball Rules 3.02 and 8.02 as the result of his ejection from Monday night's game against the Boston Red Sox in the Kingdome.
Perry was warned about throwing illegal pitches in the fifth inning by home plate umpire Dave Phillips, who said he found a 'foreign substance' on the ball. A second violation prompted Perry's ejection in the seventh inning.
'A warning was given to Gaylord Perry in the fifth inning,' said Phillips, a veteran umpire. 'At that time, I checked a ball and found a funny substance on it.'
Asked what the substance was, Phillips replied, 'I don't know. I'm not a chemist. It's something slippery.'
But Perry countered, 'If there was anything on the ball, he (Phillips) put it there. He asked for the ball. Why would I throw the umpire the ball with something on it? I threw it directly to him because he wanted to look at it. I've been in the game too long to do anything that stupid.'
According to Perry, the real dispute between himself and the umpire began in the first inning when he was pitching to Carl Yastrzemski. Perry was surprised when Phillips called two balls.
'I told him I've been around as long as Yaz and I was throwing good pitches and I wanted the calls,' Perry said. 'From there, he just stuck it to us. He made bad calls all night and took it out on us. Definitely he was out to get me. I didn't know he was that kind of a guy, but I know now.'
But Phillips said those first-inning pitches also may have been spitters.
'He threw Yaz two questionable pitches in a row, possibly illegal,' the umpire said. 'But I gave him the benfit of the doubt then. He's entitled to his opinion of my calls. I can't get into personalities with him.'
During his 20-year career, Perry has often been accused but never officially rebuked for throwing an illegal pitch, even though he has admitted such actions in his autobiography several years ago.
'I like Gaylord,' commented Boston manager Ralph Houk. 'I'm a Gaylord Perry fan. But usually he just throws his spitter on two strikes or when he needs it. (Monday) night, he was doing it on eight of 10 pitches. He was making a farce of the game.'
In the seventh, Phillips didn't bother to check the ball before thumbing Perry after a 1-0 pitch to Boston's Rick Miller.
'It was an obvious illegal pitch. Gaylord Perry has a history of this stuff. He was in a tough situation with men on first and third and he threw an illegal pitch.'
Perry had a different version of what happened.
'I threw a good, hard forkball and it sank real good, he (Miller) swung and missed, he (Phillips) automatically threw me out. He didn't ask for the ball. He has no evidence.'
'The rule says that if I can tell by the flight of the ball I can call an illegal pitch,' Phillips said. 'The question was the flight of the ball. By my judgment, it was an illegal pitch and it wasn't only my judgment but the judgment of anybody out there who knows baseball.'
Perry countered: 'He's been an umpire for 12 years, and now, all in one pitch, he's become an expert and he wants to run the game. So he'll have a long day in court.'
