1959 Tournament: Indians 3, Cardinals 0

Cleveland’s Jim Perry posted a 4-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in the first round of the Strat-O-Matic 1959 Tournament presented by Press Room Pass.

Perry allowed just four hits and one walk as he fanned seven in the shutout.

After surrendering back-to-back singles to Curt Flood and Stan Musial with one out in the third inning, Perry retired the final 22 batters he faced.

Billy Martin‘s RBI single that brought Jim Piersall home in the bottom of the seventh broke the scoreless tie. Piersall opened the inning with a single.

Woodie Held hit a two-run homer in the eighth for the Indians against Cardinals starter Larry Jackson, who also went the distance giving up nine hits.

Martin and Vic Power led the Indians with two hits apiece.

Minnie Minoso, Rocky Colavito and George Strickland each had one hit.

For the Cardinals, Hal Smith and Joe Cunningham had the other hits with both coming in the second frame.

1959 TOURNAMENT RESULTS AND SCHEDULE

(Top Bracket Opening Round)

(A1) Chicago White Sox 7, (N8) Philadelphia Phillies 1
(N5) Cincinnati Reds 5, (A4) Detroit Tigers 3
(A6) Baltimore Orioles 2, (N3) San Francisco Giants 1
(N2) Milwaukee Braves 4, (A7) Kansas City A’s 1

(Top Bracket Second Round)

(N5) Cincinnati Reds at (A1) Chicago White Sox
(A6) Baltimore Orioles at (N2) Milwaukee Braves

(Bottom Bracket Opening Round)

(N1) Los Angeles Dodgers 4, (A8) Washington Senators 3
(A5) Boston Red Sox 16, (N4) Pittsburgh Pirates 3
(N6) Chicago Cubs 4, (A3) New York Yankees 0
(A2) Cleveland Indians 3, (N7) St. Louis Cardinals 0

(Bottom Bracket Second Round)

(A5) Boston Red Sox at (N1) Los Angeles Dodgers
(N6) Chicago Cubs at (A2) Cleveland Indians

IN REAL LIFE:

Jim Perry was in his first of 17 years in the big leagues in 1959.

The righthander had a record of 12-10 with a 2.65 ERA and four saves as he finished second in the American League Rookie of the Year balloting behind Washington’s Bob Allison, who would be a future teammate. He also had pair of shutouts. He blanked Washington 9-0 on two hits on July 26. On Aug. 23, he held Boston to three hits as the Indians won 1-0.

Perry’s best year in Cleveland was in 1960 when he led the AL in wins at 18-10 along with a league-high total of four shutouts.

After his first of three all-star appearances in 1961, Perry remained with the Indians until he was sent to Minnesota where is joined Allison and the Twins during the 1963 season.

With Minnesota in 1965, he posted a 12-7 mark as the Twins fell to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series.

In 1969, the Twins won the AL West as Perry won 20 games for the first time with a 20-6 record and an ERA of 2.82.

The following season, Perry led the AL in victories at 24-12 as the Twins repeated their AL West title and lost the Baltimore Orioles in the playoffs for the second straight year.

The older brother of National Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Gaylord Perry, Jim won the Cy Young Award in 1970. Gaylord would also receive the honor in 1972.

Jim spent the 1973 season with the Detroit Tigers before he joined the Indians for the second time in his career the following year.

The Perry brothers were teammates in 1974 with Cleveland before they were both traded by the Indians a year later. Jim finished his career in 1975 in Oakland with at 215-174 record, while his brother pitched until 1983 and won 314 games.