December 01, 2009
The guest speaker of the day was none other than Herbert Perry. Many baseball fans, and some football fans will probably remember Herbert from his time with the Cleveland Indians, Tampa Devil Rays, White Sox or perhaps from his days with the Texas Rangers.
Gator, as many of his teammates called him, attended University of Florida on a football scholarship, playing quarterback, but from an early age, this farm boy from Mayo Florida held baseball as his true love. He recalled the day when the realization set in that he was actually going to play baseball for a living; "I was scared to think that I 'had' to play baseball". His confidence wasn't shaken though, as he went on to play for 4 different teams over a 9 season career.
When he recalled his childhood days working on the farm in Mayo, he fondly recollected playing catch with his brother while they were supposed to be working. "As a kid, whenever we were working in the field, we would run the tractor way ahead of dad so he cound't see us, then we would get out the baseball and play catch ... 'till dad caught up to us ... baseball was a family affair, and everyone loved it."
After college the time set in to begin negotiations for his career in baseball, "The negotiations took all of 15 minutes .. I guess we started way too low". Within a day he was sitting in Watertown, New York, a place not much different from Mayo, except the cold.
Herbert continued with recollections of his days playing baseball and reflected kindly on his achievements, even touching on the day he was informed that his days of playing ball were over.
He now resides in Mayo, Florida and is the Assistant Coach of a Lafayette County baseball team. "It allows me to spend more time with my kids and coach them", he stated before ending the program.
