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Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy has retired from the Dayton Daily News after covering the Cincinnati Reds for 37 years. Hal's blog, though, will continue to be a must-read for Reds fans. He'll share his thoughts on the team this season and will file updates from Great American Ball Park. You also can catch Hal in print every Sunday in his popular Ask Hal columnHome > Blogs > The Real McCoy | Cincinnati Reds baseball news > Archives > 2009 > December > 09 > Entry
Three untold Tony Perez stories
Tony Perez is not one to boast or gloat, but he isn’t the strong, silent type many folks believe he is. All you have to do is ask some of the members of The Big Red Machine about how outspoken he was in the dugout and clubhouse when there were some big egos to deflate.
Perez related some stories as he dissected a medium rare filet mignon this week in an Indianapolis restaurant, stories he says has never been in print.
The audience at the table was Hall of Famer Eddie Murray, former Astros star Bob Watson, now the commissar of discipline for Major League Baseball and me.
Perez and Murray were trying to top each other with their entertaining behind-the-scenes stories when Perez came up with this one about the 1976 World Series against the New York Yankees, a Series the Reds swept in four games.
“It was Game 2, and man it was cold in Riverfront Stadium that night,” said Perez. “We were in the ninth inning of a tie game, 3-3, with two outs and nobody on. Catfish Hunter started that game and he was still in there.
“Ken Griffey (Sr.) hit a ground ball to shortstop Fred Stanley and he threw the ball into the dugout and Griffey ended up on second base,” Perez continued.
“Then you know what they did? They walked Joe Morgan on purpose to pitch to me,” he said. “I never liked it when a team walked somebody to pitch to me. And I never liked to make the last out of a game.”
As the Yankees were walking Morgan, Perez was standing on deck.
“I turned to the batboy and I said, ‘Put away all the bats but mine. This game is over.’”
And it was. Perez lashed a searing single that one-hopped the outfielder and Griffey, “The fastest guy I ever saw,” said Perez, scored from second to end the game.”
Watson then volunteered that he probably hit the longest home run of his life in Riverfront Stadium against Cincinnati pitcher Dale Murray. “He hung a curve and I hit it off the facing in front of the green seats so hard that the ball bounced all the way to first base,” said Watson, who once suffered the ignominy of having a beer dumped on his face in Riverfront as he stood near the left field wall looking up at a ball heading into the seats.
THE NAME Dale Murray brought sparkle to Perez’s dark eyes.
Perez was traded before the 1977 season to Montreal for pitchers Murray and Woodie Fryman by then club president/GM Bob Howsam, “The worst trade I ever made,” Howsam later said.
Perez picked up the story and said, “The first time I came back to Cincinnati to face the Reds, Murray was pitching. I wanted to hit one real far, about nine miles. Well, he hung a curveball and I hit it into the green seats.
“After I ran around the bases and touched home plate, catcher Johnny Bench said to me, ‘I knew you were going to do that.’”
EDDIE MURRAY listened to the home run stories and finally said, “I may have hit the longest home run in history. It was in Charleston and I hit one way over the right field seats. It landed in the coal car of a passing train and, who knows, it might have gone 200 miles.”
Perez laughed and said, “That doesn’t count. That was in the minors.”
Murray even went back to his time as a Little Leaguer for one of his stories from his childhood in Los Angeles. “We played on a field in the ‘hood that had a fence and my first three times up I hit ball way over the fences,” he said. “The coaches in the league said, ‘You can’t play here. You’re gonna hurt somebody.’”
HALL OF FAME shortsthop Ozzie Smith walked into the room, wearing a sling on his right arm, the result of recent rotator cuff surgery.
Said Perez, “Ah, ha. Took me 15 to 20 years, but I finally got you. I knew I’d get you. I said for years that I would get you.”
And what was that about?
“Well, it was unbelievablel,” said Perez. “When we played the Cardinals, every hard hit ball I hit on the ground, Ozzie would catch it. In the hole, up the middle. Everywhere. I’d hit one hard thinking I had a hit and there would be Ozzie, right in front of it. Making it easy. I’d swear and keep telling him, ‘I’m going to get you.’
“Late in my career, I hit two very hard balls at Smith that short-hopped him and hit him in the arm,” Perez said. “He never flinched, never rubbed it. But now, 20 years later, there he is with a sling. I knew I’d hit him hard.”
Smith laughed and said, “Yeah, those hurt. But I wasn’t going to let you know. Until tonight.”
NEXT: Pitching stories from Tom Seaver and Robin Roberts.
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By michael hunt
November 6, 2010 5:12 PM | Link to this
Tony doggy Perez was the clutch in Cincinnatis 5 speed stick shift . His clutch and timely hitting were unmatched. check the RBI and HR production when the reds were known as the big red machine unless you grew up listening to and watching him perform you dont have a clue as to how important he was to that team . I stopped being a reds fan when they trade tony perez.
By michael hunt
November 6, 2010 5:11 PM | Link to this
Tony doggy Perez was the clutch in Cincinnatis 5 speed stick shift . His clutch and timely hitting were unmatched. check the RBI and HR production when the reds were known as the big red machine unless you grew up listening to and watching him perform you dont have a clue as to how important he was to that team . I stopped being a reds fan when they trade tony perez.
By michael hunt
November 6, 2010 5:09 PM | Link to this
Tony doggy Perez was the clutch in Cincinnatis 5 speed stick shift GTO. His clutch and timely hitting were unmatched. check the RBI and HR production when the reds were known as the big red machine unless you grew up listening to and watching him perform you dont have a clue as to how important he was to that team . I stopped being a reds fan when they trade tony perez.
By michael hunt
November 6, 2010 5:07 PM | Link to this
Tony doggy Perez was the clutch in Cincinnatis 5 speed stick shift GTO. His clutch and timely hitting were unmatched. check the RBI and HR production when the reds were known as the big red machine unless you grew up listening to and watching him perform you dont have a clue as to how important he was to that team . I stopped being a reds fan when they trade tony perez.
By seolace
May 5, 2010 10:23 PM | Link to this
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By lipreader
December 30, 2009 1:16 PM | Link to this
My beef with Mr. McCoy is that his quotes have always been dubious. For example, “After I ran around the bases and touched home plate, catcher Johnny Bench said to me, ‘I knew you were going to do that.’”. Do you think Tony Perez ever referred to Johhny Bench as “catcher Johnny Bench”? It’s a small point, but one that consistently shows up in McCoy’s work. If Pete Rose is speaking of Sparky Anderson, he isn’t going to say “That’s when manager Sparky Anderson moved me to third”. If it is necessary to explain who is being spoken of, insert a parenthetical “That’s when (manager) Sparky Anderson…”. Review Hal’s body of work and you will see he does this as often as Marty Brenneman mangles a triple negative (for instance, “he never failed to hit less than .300 in the minor leagues”). My other beef with Hal is that I grew up listening to the BRM and when I’d grab the next day’s paper to read about the game all of the player quotes came from “The Star of the Game” show.
By Jim Sagon
December 22, 2009 12:27 PM | Link to this
“The Mick” is a 44-year-old virgin.
By Deaner
December 15, 2009 11:34 PM | Link to this
Dave Parker also tells a story about hitting a homerun ball into a passing coal train in Charleston, WV.
By crypticphrasing
December 14, 2009 11:24 AM | Link to this
The Perez story about Murray just isn’t true. The only homer Perez hit vs. the Reds was Aug. 29 in Montreal off Doug Capilla. Just check the box scores at baseball-reference.com. All the games are there. His first 1977 game in Cincy June 10, Perez was hitless in a 13-1 losing effort. Perez might be a HOF with his bat, but not with his memory. Perhaps it was spring training or a later season when it happened, but Hal should check facts before reporting faulty memories, because they are too good to be true.
By michael
December 13, 2009 9:49 AM | Link to this
joe moore is correct. I still watch the games on TV, but very seldom waste my time going to GABP. Its a good bet that after I spend 200 for my family to go to a game, that the Reds will lose. I don’t blame it all on management. Players go where the money is. Eventually, the Reds will not be able to afford Votto and he will be gone. Baseball has lost it.
By Randy
December 13, 2009 2:51 AM | Link to this
Tony Perez still has more class in his little pinky than the current Reds regime combined. It’s too bad he didn’t manage under this group or else he might have been allowed to manage a complete season or two since. Howsam was allowed to make a few mistakes. At least he didn’t have cabbage balls like the current front office.
By joe moore
December 12, 2009 7:51 PM | Link to this
dear hal,congrats on a fabulous career. read your column on what can the reds possibly do and I have to say,you sound more and more like the reds publicity director,in charge of the clubs image.I am so tired of hearing about how we can,t afford this and can,t afford that,well,then the reds need to fold up ship and forget about a major league team in cincinnati.because I,ll tell you right now,this town will NOT support a losing team,this is baseballs first proffessional team and we need to find ownership that runs this team accordingly.suer they lost money because of attendence,people are not going to spend their hard earned money in this day and time to watch that product the reds have put on the field the last few years,would you?.nobody mentions the fact that the last three owners or at least 2 of them ranked in the top 5 riches owners in the majors,we don,t have the money?,no,we don,t want to spend the money to get better is the problem.milwaukee is not a huge market with deep pockets,and look what they,ve done so far this winter.its simple hal,either improve this team or the attendence will continue to drop till that club is in serious trouble,people will come if you win,anyone that has been a reds fan for anytime at all should know this by now,to ownership now,you promised we would not be losing anymore,castellini,fix it now or please sell to someone that will.this is a baseball club that fans expect to win,its not one of your corporate businesses
By Gary Maloy
December 12, 2009 2:50 PM | Link to this
Ummm, “The Mick”… Are you listening? This is Hal’s blog. I suggest that YOU go away. Thanks Hal. We ALL love you. Hell, even “The Mick” loves you - otherwise, he wouldn’t be here reading your work.
By Jerry, Venice Fl.
December 11, 2009 6:19 PM | Link to this
Great stories, Hal! Keep them coming. Ignore your critic.
By The Mick
December 11, 2009 4:24 PM | Link to this
Hal, Nice name dropping as to who was at the table. You continue to make it clear as to how important you think you are. Glad the paper fired you.Now please just go away!
By michael
December 11, 2009 12:56 PM | Link to this
Mike- Cinci…good points. It happens to the best, and we didn’t have to see Pete or Joe during their declining years. It would have been painful for me to see pete hit .250 something like he did in Montreal. When they came back (Tony and Pete), we knew they were wrapping up their great careers at home. But, we had a couple more years of the BRM if TP wasn’t traded.
By Mike-Cinci
December 11, 2009 11:54 AM | Link to this
The Reds thought Perez was getting long in the tooth and trading him while he still had value seemed to make sense. Driessen was viewed as ready to play everyday and was much younger. The Reds needed a starter (Fryman) and a reliever(Murray). Things did not work out. Fryman pitched opening day in 1977 and was bombed. He was booed by the faithful on opening day and the Kentucky tobacco farmer never recovered. His ERA over 1 1/2 years was over 5.00. Murray was also bad though he won 7 games in relief in 1977 and he too was gone after 1978. Driessen hit .300 with 17 Hr’s and 91 RBI in 1977. After that he declined hitting around .255 and hitting 17 HR’s and getting about 70 RBI over several years. Perez hit .283 with 19 HR’s and 91 RBI with Montreal in 1977. Tony declined also but he did have a good year with the Red Sox in 1980 but never hit more than 9 HR’s or had more than 42 RBI in any season after that. Trading Perez was probably OK but they did not get enough in return and Driessen never became the player they thought he would. Watching Tony decline in Cincinnati would not have been fun. In the end we remember him as a great Reds player and because of the trade we did not have to see him falter in his later years. Those things never go well. Just ask Ken Griffey jr. and Barry Larkin.
By LMAO
December 10, 2009 4:08 PM | Link to this
I didn’t say i didn;t like him, but a career .275 average, 380 or whatever HR having your RBI stats pumped by being fortunate enough to be on a historically prolific offensive team, plus being mediocre defensively at the easist position of the field makes you a very good, not a great player, and I would assume that the HOF is for the great ones
By Michael in Monterey, CA
December 10, 2009 2:31 PM | Link to this
I was at one of the first series of games during Perez’ return to Riverfront. In one at bat he cracked a line drive off the very top the centerfield wall (and it was 11 or so feet back then) that ended up a triple. An absolute rocket. Perez got an ovation and I can still hear my Dad say “dummest trade ever” after we all sat back down.
By Kip Lawson
December 10, 2009 1:29 PM | Link to this
Dale Murray had finished the 1976 season closing games in Montreal, and the Reds acquired him with the thought he could replace Rawly Eastwick if he left as a free agent after the 1977 season.
By DavetheGeek
December 10, 2009 12:15 PM | Link to this
to chi Redsfan: I believe Mr. Howsam was trying to replace Don Gullett. Don was the first free agent to leave the Reds - he signed with the Yankees. Reds needed a starter, thought that Driessen was a replacement for TP (big mistake) and traded for Woody and Murry. Oh well, can’t win ‘em all.
By Matt
December 10, 2009 10:27 AM | Link to this
When I was a teenager in Hamilton,Ohio doggy was my favorite player,and I would do his batting stance. Tony Perez will always be a Hall of Famer to me! Thanks alot!
By Dave
December 10, 2009 8:29 AM | Link to this
Great stuff, Hal. Thanks.
By michael
December 10, 2009 6:00 AM | Link to this
Yes, TP does belong in the Hall of Fame. That was a crazy trade. It busted up the Big Red Machine, and who knows how many World Series that team could have won had Howsam not dismatled them. Dan Driessen had a lot of talent and turned out to be a decent player, but TP was Mr Clutch.
By Chi Redsfan
December 9, 2009 6:34 PM | Link to this
Hal, Why did the Reds make the Perez deal? I remember at the time thinking they received so little in return. I know they had Driessen who they thought was going to be big time. And they felt they needed pitching. But what did they possibly see in Fryman? Did they think Murray was going to be a big time reliever? Would be curious to learn what was going through Howsam head, I know he acknowledged the mistake but what drove him to the mistake? thx.
By silverquill
December 9, 2009 6:23 PM | Link to this
LMAO: Who doesn’t belong in the Hall of Fame, Perez? You’re nuts
By silverquill
December 9, 2009 6:23 PM | Link to this
LMAO: Who doesn’t belong in the Hall of Fame, Perez? You’re nuts
By LMAO
December 9, 2009 3:18 PM | Link to this
Here’s another …he doesn’t belong in the Hall of Fame
By Hall of Framer
December 9, 2009 3:06 PM | Link to this
Baeth Ball has ben Belly Belly good to me.