Herbert Edward Perry Jr. (born September 15, 1969) is an American former college and professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

player who was an

infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field, between first base and third base. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns pla ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) for all or parts of nine seasons during the 1990s and 2000s. Perry played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

for the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

, and he played professionally for the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. Since , the team ...

Tampa Bay Devil Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in the Tampa Bay area. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. They are one of two major league clubs based i ...

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...

, and Texas Rangers.

Early years

Perry was born in

Live Oak, Florida Live Oak is a city and the county seat of Suwannee County, Florida, United States. The city is midway between Tallahassee, Florida, Tallahassee and Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville. As of 2020, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Burea ...

, in 1969. He attended Lafayette High School in

Mayo, Florida Mayo, Florida is a town and the only municipality in Lafayette County, Florida, Lafayette County, Florida, United States. It is the county seat of Lafayette County. The population was 1,055 at the 2020 census. History Although the current Town ...

, and played high school football and baseball for the Lafayette Hornets.

College career

Perry accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the

in Gainesville, Florida, where he played for coach

Joe Arnold Joseph A. Arnold (born February 26, 1947) is an American former college and professional baseball coach. During his twenty-four seasons as a head coach, Arnold led the college baseball teams at Florida Southern College, the University of Florid ...

Florida Gators baseball The Florida Gators baseball team represents the University of Florida in the sport of baseball. Florida competes in Division I (NCAA), Division I of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA), and the of the Southeastern Conference ...

team from 1988 to 1991, and he was also a

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

for coach

Galen Hall Galen Samuel Hall (born August 14, 1940) is a retired American college and professional football coach and player. He is a native of Pennsylvania, and an alumnus of Penn State University, where he played college football. Hall was previously the ...

's Gators football team in

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

and

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

.
2011 Florida Gators Football Media Guide
'', University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 85, 99, 185 (2011). Retrieved August 31, 2011. Perry was a key member of the Gators'

College World Series The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is a baseball tournament held each June in Omaha, Nebraska. It is the culmination of the NCAA Division I baseball tournament—featuring 64 teams in the ...

teams in

and

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

. He led the team with a .370 batting average in 1989. He graduated from the University of Florida in 1991 with a bachelor's degree in agricultural operations management.

Professional career

Perry hit 22

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s in for the Texas Rangers; he had hit only 28 home runs in his previous seven seasons total, though in limited playing time. Twelve of those 28 home runs came in with the

. Perry was affectionately known as "The Milkman" by

announcer

Ken Harrelson Kenneth Smith Harrelson (born September 4, 1941), nicknamed "the Hawk" due to his distinctive profile, is an American former professional baseball player and television announcer. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1963 to 1971 as a ...

. Injuries shortened his major league career to only nine seasons. He retired from baseball with a career

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

of .272.

Life after the major leagues

Perry currently resides in the town of

and manages a pre-cast septic tank business. He has two sons and two daughters,: Ethan, Drew, Gabrielle, and Olivia. Perry and his wife, Sheila, adopted Olivia from Ukraine in 2009. He is the older brother of former MLB utility player Chan Perry.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perry, Herbert 1969 births Living people American football quarterbacks Baseball players from Florida Canton-Akron Indians players Chicago White Sox players Cleveland Indians players Florida Gators baseball players Florida Gators football players Kinston Indians players Major League Baseball third basemen Sportspeople from Live Oak, Florida Tampa Bay Devil Rays players Texas Rangers players People from Mayo, Florida Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Charlotte Knights players Durham Bulls players Frisco RoughRiders players Gulf Coast Devil Rays players St. Petersburg Devil Rays players Watertown Indians players 20th-century American sportsmen