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Detroit Tiger Mickey Lolich

Monroe Superstore Co-owners, Ralph Mahalak, Jr. and J.P. Mahalak
with Mickey Lolich at Comerica Park, July 2, 2011

  

 


Michael Stephen Lolich (born September 12, 1940 in Portland, Oregon) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher from 1962 until 1979, playing the majority of his career with the Detroit Tigers.




Baseball career


Mickey Lolich is best known for his performance in the 1968 World Series, when he allowed just five runs in three complete games, winning all three including the final and decisive game (beating Bob Gibson). Mickey also helped himself at the plate in Game 2, when he hit the first and only home run of his 16-year career. He remains the last pitcher to win three complete games in a single World Series, and was the last to win three at all until Randy Johnson did that in 2001. Lolich was given the World Series MVP Award for his superb performance.


Lolich was a picture of consistency, winning 14 or more games for ten consecutive seasons, including 25 in 1971 and 22 in 1972. He struck out a career-high 308 batters in 1972, helping the Tigers to the AL East Championship that season while personally finishing runner-up in the Cy Young Award balloting. He also struck out 200 or more batters seven times during his career and ranks third among left-handers (behind Steve Carlton and Randy Johnson) in career strikeouts with 2,832.

After suffering through the 1975 season, in which he lost 18 games for a declining Tigers team, the Tigers traded him to the New York Mets with outfielder Billy Baldwin in exchange for star outfielder Rusty Staub and pitcher Bill Laxton. In 1976, Lolich's slump continued with the Mets, as he won just 8 games while losing 13, leading him to retire. He returned to his home in suburban Detroit, opened a doughnut shop, and skipped the 1977 season. He eventually re-entered the free agent market, signed a contract with the San Diego Padres, and pitched for them during the 1978 and 1979 seasons before permanently retiring. At the time of his retirement, he held the Major League Baseball record for most career strikeouts by a left-handed pitcher. Lolich still holds the American League record for the most career strikeouts by a left-handed pitcher.

Lolich was deemed to be right-handed, but a tricycle accident that occurred while Lolich was young forced him to adapt to using his left hand. This would come to include baseball, once he began to play it. Although he became a left-handed pitcher, Lolich batted right-handed and still writes right-handed.


After Lolich's career ended, he continued to run his doughnut shop in Lake Orion, Michigan (a small suburb roughly 40 miles north of Detroit) for several years before he sold the business and retired. Today, he is active in charitable work and serves as a coach at the Detroit Tigers' fantasy camp in Lakeland, Florida. Because of his humble, "average man" qualities, he is still known to many long-time Tiger fans as one of the most popular sports figures in a working man's city. As the Detroit News put it, "He didn't act like a big shot superstar, he was one of us."


In 2003, Lolich was one of the 26 players selected to the final ballot by the Baseball Hall of Fame's Veterans Committee. He received only 13 votes, placing him far below the 75% required for election. Lolich has often said the fact that he never won the Cy Young Award was a factor in not receiving sufficient votes to be elected to the Hall of Fame.


Detroit Tigers Records

Lolich ranks among the Tigers' all time leaders in many categories, including the following:

·         2,679 strikeouts is #1 on the Tigers all time list

·         39 shutouts is #1 on the Tigers all time list

·         459 games started is #1 on the Tigers all time list

·         329 home runs allowed is #1 on the Tigers all time list

·         109 wild pitches is #2 on the Tigers all time list (behind Jack Morris)

·         207 wins is #3 on the Tigers all time list (behind Hooks Dauss and George Mullin)

·         508 games is #3 on the Tigers all time list (behind John Hiller and Hooks Dauss)

·         3,361 innings pitched is #3 on Tigers all time list (behind George Mullin and Hooks Dauss)


Accomplishments

·         Lolich holds the MLB record for strikeouts by a lefthander in the American League.

·         Lolich is the only lefthander to start, finish and win three complete World Series games.

·         Lolich appeared as a security guard in the 1977 horror film, 'The Incredible Melting Man'.