Remembering Pascual Perez, the Brave who made us smile
Pascual Perez delivers in Philadelphia in 1984. He could really throw that fastball. (AP photo)
He wasn’t the best Brave (although for 2 1/2 seasons he was pretty darn good), and he wasn’t, goodness knows, the most reliable, but Pascual Perez was the one most apt to make us smile. His enduring gift was that he, without appearing to try, made people happy. He made us happy when he ran from the dugout to the mound, happy when he pitched and won, happy that day in 1982 when he got on I-285 and just kept going.
That was the year a lot of folks fell in love with the local nine, and not just those who lived within spitting distance of Pascual’s Perimeter. It was a time when much of the U.S. first got cable, and the SuperStation staple began the season by winning 13 in a row. Then the Braves started losing, and folks from Montgomery to Missoula started agonizing for this suddenly beset crew, and lo and behold …
Pascual Perez, recently acquired from Pittsburgh and just up from Richmond, was scheduled to start on a Thursday night in August. His new team had lost 19 of 21 to fall four games behind the hated Dodgers. Only just outfitted with a driver’s license, Perez went literally in circles, stopping only because he was almost out of gas. A guy at the service station recognized him and spotted him a splash of petrol — Pascual had forgotten his wallet, too — and by the time he arrived at the old stadium Phil Niekro was on the mound in his stead.
The tension broken by Pascual’s misadventure, the Braves won 13 of the next 15 to reclaim first place. Come the season’s final week, the wayfarer started twice — both games were on the road, so no worries about Atlanta navigation — and won both times to keep the Braves a game in front of L.A., which is exactly where they finished.
Turned out the middling motorist could really pitch. He threw hard and wasn’t afraid to work inside. (The epic 1984 brawl with San Diego was a result of Perez’s plunking of Alan Wiggins and the Padres’ repeated attempts — darned if the agile target didn’t keep ducking out of the way — to nail him in retaliation.) He was 15-8 in 1983, the year of the lost-and-never-regained lead, and 14-8 in ‘84, Joe Torre’s final run as manager.
The Braves fired Torre and replaced him with the overmatched Eddie Haas, who lasted 121 games and succeeded only in breaking a good pitcher’s spirit. Perez’s season had started late because of his arrest on drug charges in the Dominican Republic, and the Braves and Haas set about to rein in his excesses. Being honest, Perez said he’d try to comply but wasn’t sure he could.
By midsummer, the joy was gone. He’d hurt his shoulder, which didn’t help. The eyes that blazed like searchlights from beneath his two-sizes-too-big cap, the jerk of the head toward left field whenever he struck somebody out, the incessant attempts to bunt for a hit … all that went away. The Braves took a manchild and tried to make him just a man, and all they had left was a sad and confused pitcher who went 1-13.
But let’s not remember Pascual Gross Perez, who was killed in an apparent armed robbery in the Dominican Republic, as the broken pitcher who exited this city after being released on April Fool’s Day 1986. Better to recall those happier days, when he helped the Braves win by pitching and helped save a season by, of all things, getting lost. Better to reflect on all the smiles he gave us, and to note that the world’s sunniest smile belonged, fittingly enough, to Pascual himself.
Further viewing: Here’s a link to MLB.com’s video recount of that Perez-inspired Braves-Padres brawl.
By Mark Bradley
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149 comments Add your comment
GT Nation
November 1st, 2012
7:25 pm
Good artilcle Mark. I think this was your best one!!!! RIP Pascual “285″ Perez!!!!
Ken Stallings
November 1st, 2012
7:26 pm
Hard to decide the most enduring image, but you referenced both. The nickname “I-285″ that found its way on his warmup jacket was priceless. But, the repeated efforts by the Padres to plunk Perez is for me the most memorable.
Toward the end of his time in Atlanta, he lost effectiveness, and that is when his hijinks started to work against him. One of Skip Caray’s memorable lines was uttered when Perez was lifted in a game he was losing, “And the one time darling of Atlanta is now greeted by the boo birds!”
When I first read the article of his murder, it was very sad. It made all the memorable moments more human.
Beeeeg Boy
November 1st, 2012
7:33 pm
Very nice read Mr. Bradley. I spent a fortune on antennas in an effort to get channel 17 in those days!
Ken Stallings
November 1st, 2012
7:34 pm
One more tid bit of his glory years. Sports Illustrated ran a cover featuring a split photo — one of Fernando Valenzuela and the other of Perez. The headling read, “The Dodgers get a strong young left handed arm and the Braves reply with a strong young right arm!”
Dan
November 1st, 2012
7:35 pm
One of your best pieces, Mark! Thanks for the memories. I-285 was one of my favorites, with Murph and Glenn Hubbard. Sad day. I hope Pascual rests in peace.
Steve From Dalton
November 1st, 2012
7:37 pm
I still have my autographed Perez 1-75 poster (nice to have you around and around and around.)
MitchC
November 1st, 2012
7:43 pm
Mark, I’ve been a Braves fan since 1983, so I remember Pascual in his heydey. His death stunned and saddened me.
He was one of the most colorful pitchers not only in Braves history, but in the history of the game. I remember the infamous fight between the Braves and Padres in 1984, when Perez started that game by likely intentionally hitting the late Alan Wiggins.
RIP Pascual, you will be missed.
Ted M
November 1st, 2012
7:49 pm
Great article Mark. I remember all of that.
I always booed Tommy Lasorda, but just because it was fun. I really liked Lasorda. I only say that because someone was disparaging him.
Kunta Kinte Perez
November 1st, 2012
7:58 pm
Adios Amigo !!!! R.I.P.
MattInAtl
November 1st, 2012
8:01 pm
Great article, Mark, you captured him well.
julian
November 1st, 2012
8:18 pm
Nice tribute. No one wants to be remembered for their demons – we all have them.
Clint Eastwood
November 1st, 2012
8:24 pm
I distinctly remember the day Perez plunked Wiggins and all hell broke loose. It was a Sunday afternoon if memory serves me correctly and I was half-heartedly watching when all of a sudden it was WWF meets a Las Vegas heavyweight championship bout. The highlight was when Perez was confronted and sprinted into the Braves dugout. A Padre (or Padres) chased him vehemently and seemed about to get him and just as he flew down the steps of the dugout Bob Horner walked to the top step of the dugout and the Padre (or Padres) stopped dead in their tracks. From there it only went downhill and lasted for about 30 minutes. It was the best baseball fight I’ve ever seen (granted that virtually all baseball fights are dramatically overrated). Anyway, for that reason alone I salute you Pascual Perez. As Mark Bradley said you brought smiles to our faces and for that we thank you. RIP.
BRYANT
November 1st, 2012
8:30 pm
Well done Mr. Bradley.
NJ Dawg
November 1st, 2012
8:40 pm
Thanks for bringing back these memories, Mark. I was only six back in ‘82, but I remember Pascual Perez well. Out in Athens, we got TBS via out antenna signal, and my father and I made it a point to watch Perez’s starts. The Braves of the 80s weren’t nearly as good as the 90s teams, but they sure were full of characters!
BR
November 1st, 2012
8:44 pm
Mark, you are on a roll this year with your writing. Your column is a must-read for me and is becoming Grizzard-esque, which is about as good as it gets among long-time Atlantans. Pascual was fun to watch and made it look easy. Kind of like Medlen pitches today. Hopefully the Braves will do a video tribute to Pascual sometime next year.
YoungerThan ThatNow
November 1st, 2012
8:52 pm
Nice tribute MB!
The Sunday afternoon brawl was very funny on many levels and many images come to my mind. The most vivid is of the late John McSherry, who had homeplate that afternoon, if my memory is correct. He’d had way too much of the brawl very early on and it showed all over him! He and his crew handled it as best as they could I guess, but when grown men are determined to beat each other to death, it’s gonna usually happen!
As others have said, Pascual had his problems but nobody deserves to die as he did. We’ll always remember ole “I-285″ and the joy he brought all of us Braves fans… and he’ll always be a part of ‘Braves Country’!
Mitch
November 1st, 2012
8:59 pm
I once got lost on 285 in my younger days and was compared to Perez, though only in stupidity.
Bill R
November 1st, 2012
9:14 pm
Lasorda was great for the game but nobody got booed any louder by Braves fans than he did. I bought a plastic visor at a game that said: “we orta deporta Lasotda”.
Mark Bradley
November 1st, 2012
9:17 pm
Thanks for the kind words, folks. As I hope you could tell, I liked Pascual Perez.
Remembering Pascual Perez, the Brave who made us smile | Mark Bradley | Buffy Hamilton's Unquiet Commonplace "Book" | Scoop.it
November 1st, 2012
9:32 pm
[...] He wasn't the best Brave (although for 2 1/2 seasons he was pretty darn good), and he wasn't, goodness knows, the most reliable, but Pascual Perez was the… [...]
bigbobbles
November 1st, 2012
9:33 pm
Thank you everybody for your thought and memories, as I remember them well!! And you too Mark!!
jojo
November 1st, 2012
9:56 pm
He even wore that I-285 warmup jacket after being traded to New York. Great article, Mark. RIP I-285!
Bulldogs for Muschamp Lifetime Contract
November 1st, 2012
10:05 pm
Nice work Mark. The Sunday afternoon brawl was one of the funniest things I ever saw. They threw behind him twice because he was so darn skinny that him standing sideways provided no target to hit.
Rest in peace Pascual.
John
November 1st, 2012
10:43 pm
I was at the game the day Lasorda complained about the gold chain and the umpires forced Perez to tuck it under his uni. When the grounds crew came out in the seventh, several — if not all — of them were wearing bling.
oldbird
November 1st, 2012
11:02 pm
Sorry to hear the news about Pascual “Perimeter” Perez. Loved him when he was a Brave. Mark, your article reminds me of my high school senior year in 1982. A bunch of us were in physics class the day that the Braves were going to play for the 12th straight win to start the season, which would have broken the current record, and someone said, “Let’s go”. So we did and paid 2 bucks to sit in the outfield. I still have the ” I was there 12″ sign that they handed out as we entered the stadium, somewhere. 1982 was a magical season and Perez even made it more so. May he rest in peace.
Bobo
November 1st, 2012
11:09 pm
I am truly saddened by this like the day Dale Murphy was traded. This is just another piece of my childhood gone. Pascual was one of the guys that made me start loving the Braves and playing little league. He was a cartoon character larger than life in an era when there was still some innocence in baseball. This is as depressing as when Mr. Rogers or the Crocodile Hunter died. The world is not a better place without them. As wonderful as the 1995 Braves were, those ‘82 Braves will always be first in my heart and Joe Torre will be a Braves manager first and a Yankees manager second. Then there was Bob Horner’s 4 home runs, Glen Hubbard’s terrible beard, Rafael Ramirez and his horrible swing, and the Murph. Those aqua uniforms were the best. Then there was the last day of the season where Jeffrey Leonard dove into the first row to steal a home run from the Dodgers and help the Braves win the pennant. I think I’m going to cry now.
Bobo
November 1st, 2012
11:13 pm
Now I’m really sad thinking about how much I miss Skip Caray and Ernie Johnson too. Maybe somewhere up in heaven there’s a time warp to 1982 and they’re making jokes about his poor navigation around the freeway in heaven. On the opposing team, Gary Carter is getting ready to bat.
Dan Bowling
November 1st, 2012
11:30 pm
Absolutely beautiful piece of writing. I have to admit to a
tear. Remember the I 285 warm up jacket? Oh, to see today’s Braves play with his joy. One of my all time favorite Braves.
gcs
November 1st, 2012
11:39 pm
Wow, that really brings back the memories. Nice article, Mark.
BehindEnemyLines
November 1st, 2012
11:55 pm
Speaking of that brawl, the video notes another participant that is also no longer with us. The Braves pitcher who relieved Perez and hit Graig Nettles to spark the final brawl was the late Donnie Moore.
Rest in peace Pascual, and thanks for the memories and the smiles.
GT Alum
November 2nd, 2012
12:07 am
Well said, Mark. RIP Pascual.
macrotech
November 2nd, 2012
12:15 am
Enjoyed the trip down memory lane! Hate the way everything played out for this guy! Eric….lighten up….mistakes happen!
listless
November 2nd, 2012
12:29 am
And Donnie Moore also took his own life from that video.
It was said he never got over Dave Henderson’s playoff HR for the redsox against Moore’s A’s.
And I truly love I-285 even with all of his problems.
Thanks Mark Bradley for the kind article on Pasqual.
I still recall you writing an article on Mike Jones of Auburn basketball when you moved to Atlanta. I realized then
we finally had a writer at the journal who liked basketball.
listless
November 2nd, 2012
12:34 am
And how did Eddie Haas ever become a manager?
His favorite response”these things happen”.
Oh, how I already miss Pasqual.
SAWB
November 2nd, 2012
12:54 am
Sometimes we forget that we actually do have some wonderful sports history in Atlanta and I-285 was an all too brief part of it. I will never forget that brawl against the Padres it still remains a found memory. Maybe the Braves can honor him next year by wearing those old uniforms for a weekend.
Go Jackets
November 2nd, 2012
2:25 am
Was looking at the SW Atlanta Christiian article…..God Bless P. Perez AND Coach Chism…..from a Southern Republican White Man. Both have my uptmost and deepest respect. God Bless both u guys!
legionaire
November 2nd, 2012
4:35 am
Perez was a character on a team of characters with a drug problem. I think he was also arrested Canada for possession. Back in those days the teams did not care as long as you could make the game on time. The locker rooms had pain killers and speed for the players. So a little blow was just not that big a deal. Pity that Perez is just one more casualty to the drug trade.
Cloudodust
November 2nd, 2012
6:37 am
Across the back of his warmup jacket was stitched, I-285. RIP Mr Perez
Herschel Talker
November 2nd, 2012
7:24 am
MB:
EXCELLENT piece. Great job.
RIP Pascual.
HT
BaseballBuff
November 2nd, 2012
8:06 am
Well done, MB.
dean
November 2nd, 2012
8:30 am
Sigh. For my daughter’s birthday, I took her to her very first baseball game. The date was August 12th, 1984. When that game finally ended (there was a lengthy rain delay before it ever started) my little girl says, “I LOVE BASEBALL DADDY!”
This is a pretty good video recapping the events of that game: (Ok to post it?)
http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=5955859&target=Z&source=PJ_AD:Z:MLB&affiliateId=21181&clickId=483896311&affiliateCustomId=skim725X72308Xf05d8c26a3c1b2db613c3541ea617bb4
Rest in peace Pascual.
dean
November 2nd, 2012
8:31 am
Not OK?
dean
November 2nd, 2012
8:32 am
I’m an idiot. I didn’t even see that the link to the video was at the end of the story. Sorry.
GT71
November 2nd, 2012
8:33 am
Great job, Mark. Not often I praise you or any AJC writer, but this was well-done. I remember that season as we’d been going to Braves games since 1966 – when ladies wore dresses and HEELS to games, Tony Cloninger was pitching (against Sandy Koufax on one memorable occasion – was that the game he hit 2 grans-slams? Memories fade), Aaron, Boyer, etc were knocking it around…
But 1982 was special. It presaged the later ’80s when attendance fell off and the Braves were perennial losers – but still entertaining. And with only 2000 in the stands, you parked at the curb of the stadium, had your own beer vendor and EVERYTHING you said to the umps, they heard.
Again, thanks for the memories – Braves AND MB.
greg black
November 2nd, 2012
8:43 am
my best friends dad was a strength coach.we sat by ted and one game perez was standing there and i asked him for a chew of his tobacco…he went to hand it to me when the cops tryed to intervene…perez in spanish told them to scram…turner laughed and he was my hero..rip perez!
SimpleDawg
November 2nd, 2012
8:54 am
The Big Brawl with the Padres……
Bob Horner had a cast on his hand and wrist. He decked Tim Flanerty protecting Pascual……
That was an incrediblely funny scene for about 10 – 15 minutes. Total chaos.
Ahhh…..the Good ol’ Days.
Taxi Smith
November 2nd, 2012
8:57 am
Adios Pascual!
Taxi Smith
November 2nd, 2012
8:57 am
Adios Pascual!
To Tell the Truth
November 2nd, 2012
9:24 am
RIP Pascal, you brought a ray of joy and hope to a bad Braves team back in your time.
GOD BLESS!!!
UGAnSFLA
November 2nd, 2012
9:34 am
Here’s the game!
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=5955859