On August 23, 1982, Gaylord Perry of the Seattle Mariners is caught putting a foreign substance on the ball. Long suspected of throwing a “spitball,” Perry is ejected from a game for the first and only time in his career.

From Peter Gammons: Against the Red Sox. In the seventh inning, down 1-0 with the bases loaded and two out and facing Rick Miller, who was his nemesis, he threw a pitch that dropped measurably. Umpire Dave Phillips, one of the most respected umpires of the era, jumped out from behind home plate and ejected Gaylord. There was some argument from Perry and M’s manager Rene Lachemann, but it sure seemed obvious to all of us in the building that there was a very mysterious flight pattern to the pitch.

But the reason Perry was ejected was a warning he got in the top of the fourth inning.

And that was, well, divine intervention.

Red Sox outfielder Reid Nichols asked Phillips to check the ball. Phillips did, found some substance, and issued the warning. Nichols said, “in the bottom of the third inning I was standing at my position in left field and a voice came to me reminding of the scripture that ‘no weapon formed against thee shall prosper.’ So when I got up to the plate in the next inning, I asked the umpire to check the ball.”

Read More in the Gammons Daily

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