Dominican baseball player (born 1971)
Baseball player
Carlos Gross Perez
(born April 14, 1971) is a Dominican former
pitcher
in
Major League Baseball
and the brother of former major league players
Melido Perez
and
Pascual Perez
.
Career
[
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]
Perez signed with the
Montreal Expos
as an amateur free agent in
1988
. After being an
All-Star
pitcher in his debut season in
1995
, Perez's career looked extremely promising. However, he soon suffered an untimely and devastating injury which forced him to miss the entire
1996 season
. After rehabilitation, he re-joined the Expos in
1997
but still displayed steady showings of his All-Star form, earning a career-high 12 wins and leading the majors with five shutouts. After several productive months into the
1998 season
, Perez was traded to the
Los Angeles Dodgers
on July 31 along with
Hiram Bocachica
and
Mark Grudzielanek
for
Peter Bergeron
,
Wilton Guerrero
,
Ted Lilly
, and Jonathan Tucker.
By the time he became a Dodger, his potential for being a dominant left-handed major league pitcher was quickly slipping away.
[
citation needed
]
Frustration grew and Perez had his two worst seasons in
1999
(2-10 in only 16 starts) and
2000
, and he was relegated to the bullpen (after an entire career as a starter). On June 16, 1999, Perez had an outburst during a game against the
Pittsburgh Pirates
at
Dodger Stadium
. After consecutively walking
Abraham Nunez
,
Francisco Cordova
and
Mike Benjamin
to load the bases in the fourth inning, he was removed from the game by Dodger Manager
Davey Johnson
in favor of
Jamie Arnold
. Upon returning to the
dugout
, Perez proceeded to destroy a water cooler with a
baseball bat
. (The Dodgers won the game, 6-5.)
Perez was a highly animated player, especially when he was on the mound. Beginning in his rookie year, after every strikeout (and sometimes even after individual strikes), he made spastic movements, usually flailing an arm into the air while crouching very low to the ground and hopping in a semicircle (in the case of a strikeout, Perez would react in unity with the
umpire
who was signaling the strikeout motion). Sometimes batters took offense to it while others realized or knew that it was just part of his routine.
Perez has gone on to play in his native Dominican Republic, to play winter ball, including the 2009
Caribbean Series
as well as the
2009 World Baseball Classic
.
Perez hit four home runs, two triples, and eight doubles in his 250 official MLB at-bats.
Personal life
[
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]
In 1995, Perez was arrested and charged with
rape
and
sodomy
in
Atlanta
. In 2000,
Fulton County
prosecutors said they would not be proceeding with the charges at the alleged victim's request. The alleged victim, however, said that she never asked for the charges to be dropped.
[1]
: 4E
In 1999, Perez was charged with rape in two separate incidents in
Vero Beach, Florida
. The accuser in one case consented to the charges being withdrawn and the prosecution declined to pursue the charges in the other case due to lack of evidence.
[1]
: 4E
In July 2000, Perez was arrested for allegedly assaulting, threatening and causing injury to a
flight attendant
on a team flight. The charges were eventually dismissed, although the Dodgers released Perez in early May 2001.
[2]
The flight attendant's attorney alleged that she needed multiple neck surgeries as a result of the assault and was unable to return to work. Her lawsuit against the Dodgers and Perez was settled in 2003 under confidential terms.
[3]
At a civil trial at which he
failed to appear
in August 2005, Perez was found liable for rape, stemming from one of the 1999 Vero Beach incidents. He was ordered to pay $15 million in damages.
[4]
References
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]
External links
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]