From Newsgroup: alt.obituaries

N.B. Contrary to:

From: Mark Shaw <mshaw@panix.com>
Newsgroups: alt.obituaries
Subject: NOT Mickey Lolich
Date: Sun, 11 Jan 2026 00:29:35 -0000 (UTC)
Message-ID: <10juqtf$kc0$3@reader2.panix.com>

https://www.freep.com/story/sports/mlb/tigers/2026/02/04/mickey-lolich-death-detroit-tigers-1968-world-series/69512373007/

Legendary Detroit Tigers pitcher Mickey Lolich, whose three
complete game victories in the 1968 World Series delivered a
championship and earned him the series MVP, has died at age
85.

As one of the anchors of the Tigers' pitching staff in the
1960s and '70s, the portly southpaw, who once called himself
"a beer drinker's idol," developed into one of the game's most
durable and best left-handed starting pitchers ever.

Fifth on the career strikeouts list for left-handers (2,832,
behind only Randy Johnson, Steve Carlton, CC Sabathia and
Clayton Kershaw), Lolich struck out more batters than Hall of
Famers Bob Feller, Warren Spahn, Don Drysdale, Christy Mathewson,
Cy Young and his childhood idol, Whitey Ford.

Over his 16-year major league career, Lolich won 15 or more
games eight times, threw 195 complete games and struck out 200
or more batters in seven seasons while missing just one start
due to injury. He remains the Tigers' all-time leader in
strikeouts (2,679), starts (459) and shutouts (39).

"The Tigers are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of
Mickey Lolich and we extend our heartfelt condolences to his
family and loved ones," the team posted on social media Wednesday.
"Lolich will be remembered as one of the most durable and
dominant left-handed pitchers of his era and a cornerstone of
Detroit's pitching staff for more than a decade."

"Lolich was a great pitcher, teammate and champion, but he was
more than that to me," longtime Tigers teammate Willie Horton
said in a statement released by the team. "He was like a brother
for over 60 years. I will keep the memories close to my heart
and will never forget the close bond we shared. My condolences
to Joyce and their family and to everyone who loved him."

A World Series for the ages

Entering the 1968 World Series, the spotlight was on the pitching
matchup between St. Louis Cardinals ace Bob Gibson and 31-game
winner Denny McLain, the MVP and Cy Young Award winners for
their respective leagues.

Although Gibson set a World Series record with his 17 strikeouts
in Game 1, it was Lolich who stole the show with three
complete-game victories against a powerful lineup that included
Lou Brock, Curt Flood and Orlando Cepeda.

In Game 2, Lolich pitched a six-hit, complete-game victory to
tie the series at a game apiece. He helped his own cause by
hitting the only home run of his career in the 8-1 win.

Down three games to one in the Series, Lolich pitched another
complete game, helping the Tigers in a come-from-behind 5-3
win at Tiger Stadium.

During Game 6, when the Tigers pulled away for a 13-1 victory,
manager Mayo Smith had begun to seriously think about who was
to pitch the deciding seventh game.

"I was at the far end of the bench when Mayo came up to me and
asked if I could pitch the next day," Lolich said. "I knew it
was (loser of Game 3) Earl Wilson's turn to start and I told
him that if he needed me for a couple of innings out of the
bullpen, I could do that. He said, 'No, I want you to start,
can you give me five?' I did the math and knew I averaged about
15 pitches an inning and realized I could probably give him
that."

Smith then ordered Lolich to go back to the hotel to rest and
avoid reporters.

When Lolich entered the dugout after setting down the side in
the bottom of the fifth inning of a scoreless tie in Game 7 on
just two days' rest, he assumed his day was done, but Smith
asked him if he could give him one more inning. The man with
the rubber arm agreed.

In the bottom of the sixth, Lolich's heroics continued when he
ended a potential Cardinals rally by deftly pulling off the
improbable -- picking off speedsters Brock and Flood at first
base.

After the Tigers took a 3-0 lead in the top of the seventh,
highlighted by Jim Northrup's two-run triple over Flood's head,
Lolich delivered a message to Smith.

"I tapped him on the shoulder and said, 'Now I'll finish it
for you.' Mayo said, 'That's exactly what I wanted to hear.'
"

Relying largely on his sinking fastball as he had done all day,
Lolich completed his trifecta when Tim McCarver popped out to
Bill Freehan, who immediately lifted his batterymate off the
ground in a celebratory embrace that was captured in what became
one of the most famous images in Tigers history.

In his 27 innings pitched in that series, the Cardinals scored
just five runs.

"The first couple of years I played with him I didn't have that
much confidence in him," teammate Mickey Stanley said in 2026.
"The way he pitched in the seventh game of the World Series,
on two days' rest, was unbelievable. He became a real pitcher
in that Series and from then on, it was like night and day. It
was great to play behind him because he threw strikes and was
a great competitor."

Lolich is the only left-handed pitcher in American League
history to win three complete games in a World Series and just
the third of either hand, for either league, since the start
of the 1921 season. (The other two: Lew Burdette for the
Milwaukee Braves in 1957 and Gibson for the Cardinals in 1967.)
Given the modern approach to pitcher usage, Lolich will likely
be the last.

A teen star in Oregon

While riding a tricycle as a toddler in his Portland, Oregon,
neighborhood, Michael Stephen Lolich knocked over a parked
motorcycle that fell and broke his left arm.

Naturally right-handed, his parents' form of physical therapy
included tying his right hand behind his back -- forcing him
to depend on his left arm. From then on, Lolich threw left-handed.

"I was an only child and there were no other kids on my block,
so I used to entertain myself by throwing figs at city buses
150 feet from the top of my grandparents' garage," he said in
2015.

Lolich's entry into baseball did not come until his teens,
according to his 2018 autobiography "Mickey Lolich: Joy in
Tigertown" (penned with Tom Gage). The nascent lefty was
introduced to baseball at age 11, when he happened upon a game
at the city park maintained by his father. A local team of 14-
and 15-year-olds were short one player and asked Lolich if he
would play. Having never played before, he borrowed a glove
from an opposing player and was relegated to right field.

"We were getting beat pretty bad and I thought, 'I can throw
as good as those guys,' so I volunteered to pitch," Lolich
said. "To the surprise of everyone, I blew all the batters away
because they couldn't hit my fast 'fig.' "

By age 14, Lolich was a star in the local Babe Ruth League and
a batboy for the Pacific Coast League's Portland Beavers; for
two consecutive seasons (1955-56), he took his hometown team
to the Babe Ruth World Series while winning MVP awards each
year.

After signing with the Tigers in 1958, he struggled with his
control in four minor-league seasons and briefly quit in 1962
after refusing an assignment to Knoxville. But on loan that
year to the hometown Beavers, he found his groove, thanks to
pitching coach Gerry Staley.

Lolich returned to the Tigers for spring training 1963; a month
into the season, he was called up to make his major league
debut. On May 12, he came out of the bullpen against Cleveland
and struck out the first two batters he faced, Max Alvis and
Sam McDowell. Two weeks later, he earned his first victory
while scattering eight hits and going the distance against the
Angels in Los Angeles.

By 1967, Lolich and Denny McLain had established themselves as
one of the top starting duos in the AL while the Tigers battled
in one of the most exciting pennant races ever, losing out on
the AL crown on the last day of the season.

Serving his country in 1967

Earlier that year, Lolich found himself wearing a different
uniform once civil unrest broke out in Detroit that summer.

He took the loss in the first game of a doubleheader against
the Yankees at Tiger Stadium on July 23, the first day the
disturbance spilled onto the streets of Detroit. The following
morning, he was activated by the Air National Guard. Lolich,
who, since 1963, had missed two weeks in the middle of every
season for mandatory summer camp, was a sergeant in charge of
11 men and served 10 days in downtown Detroit during the
disturbance.

On active duty for 12 days, Lolich was one of three Detroit
athletes activated: receiver John Henderson and quarterback
Tom Myers of the Lions, were both summoned from the Cranbrook
training camp.

The next summer, while McLain became the talk of baseball on
his way to winning 31 games, Lolich had struggled a bit. To
his surprise, manager Mayo Smith assigned him to the bullpen
in August 1968.

"I was mad and told him, 'I'll tell you one thing, before this
year is over, you're going to need me,' and Mayo said, 'We'll
see,' " said Lolich, who, after several successful relief
appearances, returned to the starting rotation for the final
month of the regular season.

After McLain was traded in 1970, Lolich became the Tigers' ace
and established himself as a workhorse. From 1971-74, he pitched
at least 300 innings each season.

"As good as he was, though, I always thought Mickey didn't
realize himself how good he really was," 1968 teammate Jon
Warden said in 2026. "[Catcher] Bill Freehan told me 'I could
catch McLain with my bare hand but Lolich killed me. I had to
wear a rubber glove and a wrap around my hand because it was
swollen after every time I caught him.'"

After perfecting a cut fastball in 1971's spring training, the
three-time All-Star had his greatest season, leading the league
in wins (25), strikeouts (308), complete games (29) and innings
pitched (376). That year, he also earned the save in the 1971
All-Star Game at Tiger Stadium. Lolich was edged out of the Cy
Young Award by American League MVP Vida Blue.

Reggie Jackson, who called Lolich's 1971 season "one of the
greatest of all time," has always praised the man who gave him
fits at the plate.

"Lolich was a gallon of ice cream when you only wanted a cone,
simply a great pitcher, and for seven or eight years the toughest
lefty in the league," Jackson said in 2015. "When he stepped
on the mound at 1 p.m., you knew he would be there until the
end and he never missed a start. Today, they talk about 200
innings being special. Hell, Mickey had 200 innings by Aug. 1.
I just wish he had gone into the doughnut business 10 years
earlier."

In 1972, Lolich helped lead the Tigers to the AL East title
with 22 victories.

"He was an outstanding starter who could pitch down and away
all day long, get a thousand ground balls or with a two-strike
count come up and in and blow you out of there," said former
slugger Frank Howard, a teammate with the '72 Tigers, in 2015.

By 1975, the Tigers were bereft of talent and even though Lolich
was frustrated with the lack of run support and a poor defense,
he was still disappointed when the Tiges traded him to the New
York Mets for Rusty Staub.

"I had always wanted to finish my career with the Tigers and
I almost didn't agree to the trade, but looking back now I wish
I hadn't," he said in 2015.

After signing a two-year contract with the Mets, Lolich pitched
in 1976 but then retired and sat out the 1977 season before
signing as a free agent with San Diego; the woeful Padres coaxed
him out of retirement with a two-year deal worth more than he
had ever been paid.

Following the 1979 season, Lolich retired and later owned and
operated his own doughnut shop outside of Detroit for several
years.

Lolich is survived by Joyce, his wife of 61 years; daughters
Kimberly, Stacy, and Jody; and three grandsons.

Personal aside: Jody is a major figure in Dog Agility, both here
in the DFW area and internationally. And a friend.
--
Mark Shaw moc TOD liamg TA wahsnm ========================================================================
"Anyway, we delivered the bomb."
--- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2