February 15 – Happy Birthday Melido Perez

Buck Showalter inherited a pretty bad team when he took over the Yankee’s managerial responsibilities from Stump Merrill after the 1991 season. The Yankees had a mediocre lineup and an even worse starting pitching rotation. In January of ’92, the team made a move to try and shore up that rotation. They sent second baseman Steve Sax to the White Sox in return for Melido Perez and two additional pitching prospects. Perez had been in the big leagues since 1987 when he came up with the Royals. He had spent the previous four seasons starting for the White Sox and compiling a 44-45 record. He was about to become the second Perez brother to pitch in pinstripes. His older brother Pascual had put together some good seasons on the mound with both the Braves and Expos but had pitched sparingly and ineffectively for New York in both 1990 and ’91. A third brother, Carlos would later become a starter for the Expos in 1995.

With the Yankees, Melido would become part of a starting rotation that included the veterans Scott Sanderson and Tim Leary along with Scott Kamieniecki. Having just completed the dark ages of the Merrill era, I remember that going into that season I did not expect any of them to pitch very well. The only one who did was Perez. He didn’t just pitch well, at times he was downright dominating. He gave the Yankees 33 starts and a career high 247-plus innings. He struck out 218 hitters and compiled an ERA of just 2.87. He finished with a 13-16 record but he could have easily won 20 games. In ten of his losses the opposition scored three runs or less. He pitched three more seasons for Showalter and the Yankees but never again really came close to the brilliance he exhibited during that 1992 season. Fortunately, the Yankees were gathering new arms to staff their rotation and were able to become winners again without too much help from Perez.

This Yankee catcher and this former Yankee outfielder share Perez’s February 15th birthday.