Gaylord Perry Has His Back to the Wall : Veteran of 25 Major League Seasons Forced to Give Up Farming

Gaylord Perry never walked away from a challenge in 25 major league baseball seasons. But trying to keep his 400-acre eastern North Carolina farm running was a battle in which he had to surrender and get a new job.

Perry, who grew peanuts, soybeans, tobacco and corn when he wasn’t on the baseball field, filed for bankruptcy this week, claiming more than $1.2 million in debts and assets of more than $1.1 million.

Perry, 47, is now a regional representative for Fiesta Foods, a Texas firm which manufactures chips and tacos.

“I’ve got a job,” he said. “The situation is good. I’m just fortunate to be able to do it.”

It wasn’t the drought that has claimed so much farmland in the Southeast this year that caused the problem. Instead, Perry’s is the plight of the modern American farmer--major investments in the field which brought little return at the market.

“We tried everything possible,” Perry said from his new home in Raleigh. “But when you put $350 into an acre of corn and get $150 back, it doesn’t take long to say, ‘Hey, we can’t continue.’ ”

Perry says he would like to remain in North Carolina because he loves the state and its people.

“Farmers are the most courageous bunch of guys I’ve ever met,” Perry said. “Some days they might take off, sometimes they might work 14 or 15 hours. But they love their work.

“All they want is a fair price for their product. But they’re not getting that right now. It’s just arithmetic, and it just caught up with me.”

But the labor of love on the farm was overcome by a financial jam that even a crafty pitcher like Perry couldn’t escape.

“Three years ago, I thought corn was going to be $4 a bushel and beans would go for $9 a bushel,” he said. “This year, corn is going for $1.50 a bushel and beans are selling for $4.”

The numbers at the market and on the ledger sheet are in stark contrast to what Perry achieved while toiling for eight major league teams from the San Francisco Giants, where he started in 1958, to the Kansas City Royals, where he ended his career three years ago.

A native of Williamston, N.C., Perry won 314 games, one of 19 pitchers to reach or surpass the 300-victory level. In splitting his career between the American and National leagues, he was the fourth major league hurler to win 100 games in each league. He also is the only pitcher to win the Cy Young Award in both leagues. He has struck out more than 3,500 batters.

While he may have lived the dreams of many, he didn’t get to finish the dream of continuing the family farming tradition for his children. Perry’s farm is located in Martin County, about an hour and a half’s drive east of Raleigh.

“Farming has changed just like baseball--there are changes in any business,” Perry said. “What you hate to see are the changes made where this type of business can’t continue.”

Perry has a 19-year-old son attending North Carolina State. He had hoped to give the farm to him.

“I’d just be passing a liability,” Perry said. “He knows there’s no future in the farming industry.”

With Perry’s knowledge of baseball, one might have expected him to return to the game. But he is sticking with the plan which sent him back to North Carolina.

“I was out of baseball because I wanted to spend some time with my son. Getting back into it is a difficult job,” he says. “If something comes up, I’ll entertain the thought.”