A different kind of moon shot

Gaylord Perry — pitcher always, hitter sometimes

During the 1964 season, San Francisco manager Al Dark reportedly is so unimpressed with the hitting abilities of Giants pitcher Gaylord Perry that he – so goes the story – tells sportswriter Harry Jupiter that, “Mark my words. A man will land on the moon before Gaylord Perry hits a home run.”

Turns out that five seasons later – in fact, 55 years ago today – the two momentous feats do indeed occur on the same day as Perry homers off Los Angeles’ Claude Osteen a few hours before Neil Armstrong becomes the first man to walk on the moon.

Perry’s homer to center field in the bottom of the third inning accounts for the Giants’ first run in a 7-3 victory over the Dodgers before a Sunday afternoon crowd of 32,560 at Candlestick Park.

Clearly drawing inspiration by the feat – his, not Armstrong’s – the normally light-hitting Perry homers for the Giants in each of the next three seasons and six times altogether in his 22-year Hall of Fame career.

As for Armstrong, well, he goes to the moon only once, but that is more than enough to secure his place in history.

Neil Armstrong sets foot on the moon

“Well,” Perry later tells MLB.com, “about the top of the third, over the loudspeaker, they were telling everybody to stand and give a moment of silent thanks for the astronauts who landed on the moon.

“And I’d say 30 minutes later, Claude Osteen grooved me a fastball, and I hit it out of the park.”

Technically speaking, of course, Dark is right since Armstrong and fellow astronaut Buzz Aldrin land on the moon 17 minutes after Perry delivers his first pitch to Dodgers leadoff batter Maury Wills 55 years ago today – and well before Perry’s third-inning homer off Osteen.

Armstrong finally sets foot on the moon at 7:56 p.m. Pacific time – some 4 hours and 19 minutes after Perry ends the game by retiring Ted Sizemore on a groundout to Giants second baseman Ron Hunt.