Mickey Lolich, a Detroit Tigers pitcher for 13 seasons before finishing his career with the New York Mets and San Diego Padres, died Wednesday, Feb. 4, at age 85.
The left-hander from Portland, Oregon, is near the top of many of the franchise’s pitching leader boards 47 years after he threw his final pitch for the Tigers. A sampling: He‘s sixth in complete games (190); fourth in bWAR (46.7); third in wins (207), appearances (508) and innings (3,361⅔); second in batters faced (13,980); first in shutouts (39) and, of course, first in strikeouts, with 2,679.
Career totals don’t tell the whole story, however.
Lolich also made a big impression on a generation of Tigers fans through so many individual starts; there were 490 of them, after all, in the regular season – the most of any hurler wearing the Old English “D” – plus five more in the playoffs. Here’s a look at the six best starts of his Tigers tenure:
May 29, 1965: ‘Brainwashed’ dominance
Tigers 1, Cleveland 0: The promise Lolich had shown in 1964, with a 3.26 ERA (second among Tigers starters) and 192 strikeouts in 232 innings, was seemingly missing over his first nine appearances of ’65, as he posted a 3.68 ERA and failed to log a complete game in seven starts. He finally went the distance May 24 in start No. 8 (though the 24-year-old allowed three runs). But against Cleveland at Tiger Stadium, he was locked in for a 10-inning shutout. The secret? “It’s because I’ve been brainwashed,” Lolich told the Freep after allowing just two hits − bloopers to left fielder Leon Wagner in the first and fourth innings − and three walks, with six strikeouts.
The lefty credited Tigers bullpen coach Mike Roarke with adjusting the flaws in his delivery. In Lolich’s listing, they were: his stride, his leg kick, his arm slot, his general mechanics (“My arm was lagging”), his landing spot on the mound and his back leg. Still, Lolich was doing one thing OK: “I was gripping the ball right,” he said with a smile. Interim manager Bob Swift was smiling after Lolich’s effort, too, telling the Freep: “I wouldn’t trade him for any pitcher in the league.”
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Lolich dominated the rest of the season (though the Tigers’ offense wasn’t always there for him) with 174 strikeouts and 53 walks over 173⅓ innings to finish with a 3.44 ERA and 226 strikeouts in 243⅔ innings.
Aug. 29, 1968: Locking up a spot in the rotation
Tigers 2, Angels 0: Lolich’s 1966 (4.77 ERA in 203⅔ innings) was a step back, but in 1967, he was arguably the Tigers’ ace and drew a couple votes in American League MVP voting for a 23rd-place finish. That didn’t keep manager Mayo Smith from sending him to the bullpen in August 1968 after a few bad starts as the Tigers were stalked in the standings by the Baltimore Orioles all month. By the end of the month, however, Lolich was back in the rotation, and did he ever deliver against California: just three hits and one walk with 12 strikeouts in a complete game at Tiger Stadium.
That result seemed far from assured in the first inning, as Lolich allowed singles to the first two Angels he faced, with them advancing into scoring position on a fielding error at third during a double steal. But Lolich struck out the next hitter, induced a tapper in front of the plate for out No. 2, then struck out the Angels’ fifth hitter to escape the threat. He allowed a two-out double in the second, and a one-out walk in the third, then retired the final 20 Angels he faced. Suddenly, Smith had no doubts about Lolich’s spot in the rotation: “That looked like the Lolich of last September,” he said. “If he pitches that way this September, well …”
Lolich, now that the cool fall weather gave him an edge in Detroit (“It happens every year. It cools off and here comes my sinking fastball again. That’s the big difference in my pitching.”) was looking ahead, too − to the World Series: “I figured I would pitch game No. 3 here in Detroit. … I felt they’d want to use a left-hander in our ballpark because of those short seats out there in right.” Little did he know…
Sept. 15, 1968: Family time at The Corner
Tigers 13, Athletics 0: Two weeks later, the Tigers had all but wrapped up the pennant (they clinched with a walk-off win over the Yankees on Sept. 17) and Lolich was pitching in Denny McLain’s shadow once again. Starting the day after McLain picked up his 30th win of the season in front of a star-studded and national audience, Lolich had some special fans in attendance: his mom, Marge, and dad, Steve (visiting from Portland), plus wife Joyce and daughter Kimberly. “This was the first time my mom and dad saw me win in the major leagues and this is the first game my daughter Kimberly has been to this season.” They picked a good one: Lolich went the distance again while allowing just three hits, two walks and striking out 12.
Lolich, who’d been up all night before for a party in his honor at the Croatian Hall — “There must’ve been 500 people there. I didn’t get much sleep and I was pretty tired when I got up.” — put the Oakland bats to sleep for 5⅔ innings, with nine strikeouts before the A’s had a man on second. A single in the seventh was the only other runner for Oakland, despite Lolich’s plan once the Tigers took a 9-0 lead: “I figured after the fifth that I was just going to let them hit it.”
The lefty chipped in at the plate, too, going 2-for-3 with a run, an RBI and a double (off future Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers, making his first big-league appearance) to open the fourth inning. The two-bagger was one of just seven extra-base hits for Lolich during the regular season. He saved his biggest one, however, for the postseason …
Oct. 3, 1968: Shocking the world − and the World Series − at the plate
Tigers 8, Cardinals 1: Rather than start Game 3, Lolich was tabbed for Game 2, with the Tigers down a game after a 4-0 Game 1 loss in spacious Busch Stadium. He had a simple plan for the start against the Cards, whose 3.6 runs a game were sixth in MLB: “Keep the ball down, throw strikes, duck and pray.” And so, of course, he scattered six hits and two walks while striking out nine and going all nine innings.
The Cards put two on with one out, but Lolich got Orlando Cepeda to pop out foul to right, then retired Mike Shannon on a fly to right, too. By the time he took the mound again, he was up, 1-0, after a Willie Horton homer. And then, with one out in the third, it was Lolich’s turn at the plate: “It was a high fastball inside around my eyes,” Lolich told reporters of the pitch from 19-game winner Nelson Briles. “I had two strikes on me and I just tomahawked at it to get it off me.” The ball zipped over the left-field wall, stunning everyone. “I was shocked,” Lolich said. “I never hit a home run in professional baseball in my life. … I was shocked I hit the ball to left, too. I always hit it to right. I never pull the ball.” Indeed, so shocked was Lolich that he missed first base while making the first turn and had to retreat to tag it. But teammate Al Kaline had perhaps the best line in his column that day in the Freep, noting Lolich had borrowed his lumber: “I’m not going to let him use my bats any more − he’s taking all the hits out of them.”
Lolich took all, or almost all, the hits out of the Cardinals’ bats, too, despite not expecting to go more than five or six innings after, “I developed a groin infection, and I was very groggy before the game.” The veteran, who in August had been hoping to get a single Series start, went again in Game 5 on three days’ rest; he scattered nine hits while allowing three runs — all in the first inning — and the Tigers rallied to force a Game 6 (with Lolich adding another single off Briles). Then, on two days’ rest, Lolich got the Game 7 start, again going the distance while allowing one run on five hits and three walks. After an entire season in McLain’s shadow, it was Lolich’s turn in the spotlight; his triumphant leap into the arms of catcher Bill Freehan after the final out is the lasting image of the Tigers’ 1968 title.
May 23, 1969: The Tigers’ new strikeout king
Tigers 6, Angels 3: A little over seven months after his World Series triumph, Lolich set a mark that would last more than 44 years, as he struck out 16 California batters to break Paul Foytack’s mark of 15, set in July 1956. Oddly enough, Foytack was at The Corner to bear witness to the new mark; he’d thrown batting practice to Tigers hitters, then stuck around for the game.
Lolich, meanwhile, wasn’t sharp at first. He gave up a solo homer in the second and then two more runs in the fourth; just three more Angels reached base. Still, the strikeouts piled up, with at least two in every inning but the third and the ninth. All the while, Lolich was unaware he was approaching franchise history: “I thought I had about 11 or 12. I knew it was over 10 but that’s all I knew” he said after getting Dick Stuart looking for the record. Stuart was, somehow, the only Angel with four strikeouts, though Rick Reichardt and Vic Davalillo each had three. The final out came on a foul pop by Bubba Morton, who’d hit the solo shot in second, to catcher Bill Freehan (who also had no clue about the record). “If I’d have known, I wouldn’t have caught it,” Freehan joked. “Maybe I’d have given him a chance for one more.”
After breaking his personal record of 14 (set on July 1, 1968) Lolich picked up 16 again in 1969, two weeks later on June 9, 1969, (while allowing just one run) in nine innings against the expansion Seattle Pilots. The second16-strikeout game was notable for another reason: His second daughter, Stacy Michelle, was born just a few hours before. Lolich’s mark lasted until April 26, 2013, when Anibal Sanchez struck out 17 Atlanta Braves in just eight innings at Comerica Park.
Oct. 2, 1972: Locking in on the East crown
Tigers 4, Red Sox 1: The core of that ’68 Tigers squad, including Lolich, had one more great year, winning the AL East for the first time (after MLB adopted divisions in 1969). Lolich followed his second-place finish in AL Cy Young voting in 1971 (featuring 308 strikeouts in 376 innings, both MLB highs) with arguably a better 1972: just 250 strikeouts in 327 1/3 innings, but a 2.50 ERA and a career-low two walks per nine innings. The Tigers needed every bit of it, winning the division on the next-to-last day of the season, one day after Lolich’s one earned run allowed on six hits and five walks, with 15 strikeouts in a complete game put the Tigers alone in first for the first time in nearly a month.
Lolich had already had an epic September, delivering a 2.18 ERA in seven starts as the Tigers jousted with the Boston Red Sox. But his final start of that month, a 12-inning complete-game loss to the Yankees in which he’d allowed three runs on three solo home runs (and struck out five), left him upset. And so he took a pregame bike ride. “I could think of only a couple home runs hit off my slider,” he told reporters afterward. “The rest were off the curve. So when I was sitting there at home, I decided to go with the slider.”
Did it ever work. The Red Sox’s future Hall of Famers, Luis Aparicio and Carl Yastrzemski reached on a one-out single and walk in the first inning, but Lolich responded with two strikeouts to end the threat. He added two more in the second, two in the third, three in the fourth, one in the fifth, two in the sixth and two in the seventh to get to 14. But he managed just one in final two innings − a one-out punchout of Tommy Harper in the ninth − to fall just short of tying his own record. Still, the 32-year-old was satisfied with the results: “This is probably the best I’ve pitched this year,” Lolich said. “I had some pretty good stuff. Usually a guy will have a good fastball and good curve but the slider won’t work. Tonight, I had all three.”
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Mickey Lolich’s greatest games for Tigers: Whiffs, wins and a huge HR
Reporting by Ryan Ford, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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