Posted on 04/06/2020 1:08:13 PM PDT by RckyRaCoCo
Well, some things can be overlooked as all of us here reminisce about events of 52 years ago.
The ‘68 series was a fine one. I recall the talk of how the top pitchers, Denny McLain and Bob Gibson were expected to dominate. But it was journeyman pitcher Mickey Lolich who was the pitching star of that series. He became one of a handful of pitchers to win 3 games in a World Series.
Too bad he didn't play in the era of the pH.
I can’t recall for sure but didn’t Lolich pitch one game after only 2 or maybe 3 days rest.
Saw him play at the first Tiger game I went to when I was 6 or so. Maybe 1969
Yes, Mickey Lolich pitched game 7 on only two days rest between starts.
Indeed. I’m left-handed, and always got stuck in right field (smaller than others in my class), so I had another reason to idolize him.
Lolich's other records and accomplishments[edit]
- His 2,679 strikeouts is the second-most in AL history by a left-hander.
- His 2,832 career strikeouts in both leagues ranked in the top 10 in major league history when he retired in 1979.
- His 1,538 batters faced in 1971 was the most in the majors since George Uhle faced 1,548 in 1923. Only two other pitchers have faced at least 1,500 hitters since 1923, Wilbur Wood with 1,531 in 1973 and Bob Feller with 1,512 in 1946.
- His 376 innings pitched in 1971 is the second highest in the majors since 1917. Wilbur Wood holds the modern record with 376⅔ just a year later, 1972. Only four have pitched 350 or more innings in a season since 1929: Wilbur Wood (1972 & 1973), Lolich (1971), Bob Feller (1946) and Tiger forerunner Dizzy Trout (1944).
- His 29 complete games in 1971 was the highest in the AL since Bob Feller's 36 in 1946.
- In the 1965-74 decade, he struck out more (2,245) than any other major league pitcher. Bob Gibson was second with 2,117 during the same period.
- In the same decade, he was second in major league innings pitched (2,744⅔) to Gaylord Perry's 2,978.
- In the same decade, he had more wins (172) than any other AL pitcher. Gaylord Perry led the majors with 182.
- In the same decade, he threw more complete games (155) than any other AL hurler. Gaylord Perry led the majors with 205.
- He is the only left-hander with three complete World Series games in the same Series.
Pitchers were expected to throw a lot more innings back in those days....
I’ve haven’t read what everyone has written.. Been busy, I received a text from my best friend and my son... I didn’t know of the death until then... I’m crying because I don’t know... This hurts at this time... Call me silly - then call me being a 60s/70s Detroit Tigers fan...
Me too
Numbers like those were more than enough to qualify in my book. And unlike so many others in the HOF he was actually a good and decent person. The fact he turned down a raise in salary in 1970 because he felt he didn’t perform well enough that year is something I don’t see anyone else doing. He took the raise a season later though.
I’d even thrown in George Kell for good measure.
Yes, Lolich is IMO one of the most underrated and overlooked pitchers in history. I actually feel he should have been in the HOF already. I think it’s mainly that he played for Detroit that hurt him. Had he played for the RedSox, Dodgers, A’s, or Yankees he would have been in by now.
Tell us what are “today’s standards”
Thanks for that.
And the Virginian, James Drury.
Geez, I had to look it up but you're right, The Virginian is gone.
2020 has been awful for children of the sixties.
Toledo Mud Hens are formerly and currently the minor-league team of the Tigers, but the Mud Hens that drove Cpl. Maxwell Klinger nuts and would have been around when Kaline was young moved to Wichita. Klinger’s character was deliberately written to help the new (since 1965) Mud Hens seem like an older, more established team.
Don’t ask me why I know that. Let’s just say in college, I was nicknamed, “Cliffy.”
When the the Virginians pussy gets too alkaline, she can get pretty drury.
And I got bad news for you: Don’t Lean on Me... Bill Withered.
It was believed that Tiger president Bo Schembechler was responsible. That turned out to not be the case, it was WJR general manager Jim Long who said he wanted him gone.
To his credit, Schembechler persuaded Long to keep Ernie on for one final season and increased his salary from $170,000 to $200,000......
I remember as a kid growing up in northern Michigan I would lay in bed at night listening to Ernie and the Tigers on my transistor radio......
I grew up in Windsor Ont., back in the day if it was Vince Scully doing a Sunday afternoon game off went the volume on the tv and on went Ernie and Al on WJR, the stories were legend when these to talked.
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