GOLD CUP FINALIST TOM PERELLA

 

Gold Cup finalist Tom Perella is a member of the ESSOM Spring League (ESL), ESSOM Fall League (EFL), and United Federation of Baseball (UFB).  His Pawtucket Apaches were EFL champs in 1979, 1980, 1992, and 2010.  His Providence Wizards were ESL champs in 1987, 1991, 2003, 2006, and 2021.  He won the UFB Season #4 championship in 2021 with the 2020 Chicago White Sox (he now manages the 2025 Boston Red Sox in the UFB Season #9).  During the first seven rounds of the Gold Cup 250 Challenge Series, he went 45-35 with a run differential of +104 (Rangers 24-11, Diamondbacks 21-14).  

Below is the biography he submitted:

"My name is Tom Perella and I live in the town of Tiverton, Rhode Island, tucked in the southeast corner of the state, near the ocean and not too far from Newport. I am married with two grown sons, both of whom live within a reasonable driving distance. My calendar tells me I am 75 years old, but I often feel younger (and sometimes feel older). I’ve been playing Strat since the mid-sixties and was introduced to the ESSOM league in 1977 by a good friend and co-worker at the time who was a league member. The concept of running a play-by-mail Strat franchise was new and wonderful to me at the time, and I guess that feeling hasn’t worn off seeing that I am still a member of both the ESSOM Spring and Fall leagues and have stuck with them through the decades as they evolved from dice-rolling to computer play.

"I worked as a civilian mathematician for the Navy for 35 years. I retired from that job in 2006, and four years later began an 11-year career in a new and very different field, internet marketing and SEO (Search Engine Optimization), working mostly from home for a small company based in Framingham, MA. In between those two jobs, I spent a few fun years inventing games along with a lifelong friend of mine who had retired from Hasbro. I am now completely retired.

"At the age of about 6, I became a Red Sox fan and have been one since, enduring the decades-long roller-coaster ride of Sox fandom. The memory of my dad taking me to Fenway and seeing the field in all its colorful glory for the first time is something I can never forget. And yes, I am old enough to have seen Ted Williams play and remember him well. Over the years, I’ve been fortunate enough to have been at Fenway for several memorable games, including the final game of the 1967 season (my teenage self was one of the crazies who ran onto the field after the game and I collected dirt from the pitcher's mound, which I still have), games 6 and 7 of the 1975 World Series, games 4 and 5 of the 2004 ALCS, and the final game of the 2013 World Series, which was the only time the Sox clinched a World Series at Fenway since 1918. I was at that game with my son, which was a joy. And my one regret was that my dad never lived long enough to see the Sox win it all (he passed in 2001, three years before it happened).

"I’m grateful to Steve for running this tournament, and also for his very active participation in ESSOM and many other SOM-related activities. He is the closest thing we have to a league historian, as he is continually providing us with tidbits of information about ESSOM history, statistics, etc. Although he and I have only met face-to-face one time, and it was many moons ago, I feel fortunate to have known him as a league-mate and friend for a very long time."

(Submitted by Tom Perella on June 16, 2026)