Mickey Lolich, the long-time starting pitcher for the Detroit Tigers, best known for besting Hall of Famer Bob Gibson in Game 7 of the 1968 World Series, passed away at age 85 on Tuesday at a long-term care facility in Sterling Heights, Michigan. Lolich, who won three times (all by complete game), was the MVP of that ’68 Fall Classic, the Tigers’ first World Series title since 1945.
The left-handed throwing Lolich won 217 games in 16 seasons in Major League Baseball. In 1971, he led the American League with 25 wins, 376 innings pitched, and 308 strikeouts. He finished 2nd in the A.L. Cy Young voting, behind the late Vida Blue, who was also the league’s MVP that year.
Lolich spent 13 seasons in Detroit, winning 207 games while striking out 2,679 batters, which were the most in the American League for a left-handed pitcher until CC Sabathia passed him in 2017. To this day, Lolich’s 2,679 K’s are still the second-most ever in the Junior Circuit.
After the 1975 season, Lolich was traded to the New York Mets for Rusty Staub. After one campaign in Queens, he retired, but returned in 1978, pitching in parts of two seasons for the San Diego Padres.
He retired with 217 career wins, a 3.44 ERA, and 2,832 total strikeouts. As of the end of 1979, 2,832 whiffs were the seventh most in all of baseball history. Even today, 2,832 K’s is the 23rd most in MLB history.
“Lolich was a great pitcher, teammate and champion, but he was more than that to me. 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 [widow] Joyce and their family and to everyone who loved him.”
— Willie Horton (Lolich’s teammate from 1963-75)
Lolich featured a plus fastball and a curve, and also added a cut fastball in the middle of his career that looked like a slider.
From Dan Holmes’ SABR biography, Lolich described himself as “the beer-drinker’s idol.” Lolich’s Baseball-Reference page lists him at 6’1″ and 170 pounds, but the portly left-hander was also listed as 215 pounds during his one season with the Mets in 1976.
“Lolich accumulated a noticeable belly, which some observers called flabby, but which he insisted, half-serious, was ‘all muscle’… ‘I do have a big tummy, I’ll admit,’ Lolich once said. ‘There’s nothing I can do about it. It’s my posture. When I’m going good, nobody says anything about it. If I lose a few games they start saying I’m out of shape.'”
— Mickey Lolich, quoted in his SABR Bio
Lolich hit the BBWAA (Baseball Writers Association of America) Hall of Fame ballot and stayed on it for all fifteen years of his eligibility, maxing out at 25.5% support in 1988. That’s a solid tally, but way short of the 75% needed for induction into Cooperstown. Because he pitched in the workhorse era of MLB of the 1960s and 70s, he was understandably overshadowed by other hurlers who had longer careers, including many who won over 300 games.
Still, the case for Lolich for Cooperstown is decent. I’ll delve into that after a tribute to his 16-year career.
Cooperstown Cred: Mickey Lolich (SP)
- Tigers (1963-75), Mets (1976), Padres (1978-80)
- Career: 217-191 (.532 WL%), 3.44 ERA
- Career: 104 ERA+, 47.9 WAR (Wins Above Replacement)
- 3-time All-Star
- Finished 2nd in the 1971 A.L. Cy Young voting, and 3rd in 1972
- 1968 World Series MVP: 3-0, 1.67 ERA (pitched three complete games)
(cover photo: AP File)
Mickey Lolich: Early Life and Career
Michael Stephen Lolich was born on September 12, 1940, in Portland, Oregon. Of Yugoslav descent, Lolich said that, as a kid, he threw rocks at “birds, squirrels, and anything else that moved.” Lolich was initially right-handed. However, as a toddler, one day he tipped a motorcycle onto himself, damaging his left arm and shoulder. When the cast came off, he became a left-hander after performing exercises to strengthen the torn muscles in his left arm and shoulder.
With no Major League Baseball team in Oregon, Mickey served as a visiting batboy for the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League. As for the bigs, Lolich could only watch games on television, and he became a New York Yankees fan, idolizing Whitey Ford (a fellow southpaw hurler) and his namesake, Mickey Mantle.
Lolich, a star at Lincoln High School in Portland, signed with the Detroit Tigers at age 17 on June 30, 1958, for $30,000. The young “skin and bones” version of Lolich had a decent first season in the minor leagues, but struggled in 1960 and ’61, going 13-23 with a 4.13 ERA, and he briefly left the Tigers organization, going home to Portland to pitch semipro ball in early 1962. Lolich caught the attention of the Portland Beavers and was loaned by the Tigers to his hometown team (which was the AAA affiliate of the Kansas City Athletics).
Lolich was back with the Tigers in 1963 and was promoted to the big club in May after six appearances with Detroit’s AAA affiliate in Syracuse, New York. At age 22, Lolich made his MLB debut on May 12th. As a rookie, Lolich went 5-9 with a 3.55 ERA in 144 innings (18 starts, 15 relief appearances).
Lolich had a breakout year in his sophomore campaign in 1964, going 18-9 with a 3.26 ERA and 192 strikeouts, fifth best in the American League. In September, Lolich bested his boyhood idol Whitey Ford in a 4-0 shutout at Tiger Stadium, which was also his third complete-game shutout in a row.
In 1965, Lolich went 15-9 with a 3.44 ERA and 226 strikeouts, second in the league behind Sam McDowell. In 1966, Lolich had the worst season of his career, going 14-14 with a 4.77 ERA, the worst in the league for pitchers who qualified for the ERA title with at least 162 innings pitched.
In 1967, the 26-year-old southpaw rebounded with a 14-13 record and a 3.04 ERA, finishing the season with 28.2 scoreless innings. Starting on August 11th, Lolich went 9-1 with a 1.31 ERA, nearly pitching Detroit to the American League pennant; the Tigers finished just one game behind the Boston Red Sox.
The 1968 World Series Champions
After barely missing out on the pennant in 1967, everything clicked for the Detroit Tigers in 1968. Under second-year manager Mayo Smith, the Tigers cruised to the A.L. pennant by going 103-59, putting them twelve games ahead of the Baltimore Orioles.
The ’68 Tigers were led by Denny McLain, who won the MVP and Cy Young Awards by going 31-6 with a 1.96 ERA. Offensively, the Tigers were led by left fielder Willie Horton, catcher Bill Freehan, and first baseman Norm Cash, with future Hall of Famer Al Kaline ironically having an off-year due to missing time with a broken arm.
Mickey Lolich went 17-9 with a 3.19 ERA in ’68, which looks great on paper. However, 1968 was the best year for pitchers since the Dead Ball era of the 1910s. The MLB average ERA in ’68 was just 2.98, so Lolich’s 3.19 mark was actually below average.
Regardless, the Tigers had a terrific all-around team and faced off in the World Series against the defending champion St. Louis Cardinals. (1968 was the final year in which the playoffs were limited to the Fall Classic only. The leagues split into two divisions in 1969, creating the League Championship Series.)
Game 1, at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, featured a pitching matchup of McLain and future Hall of Famer Bob Gibson, who had one of the greatest pitching seasons in MLB history, going 22-9 with a 1.12 ERA. He was a hard-luck loser in those nine losses, tossing at least eight innings while giving up three earned runs or less in all of them.
Gibson bested McLain in a 4-0 victory, giving up just five hits with one walk and a whopping 17 strikeouts, still the most in MLB postseason history to this day. Lolich got the ball in Game 2, and the Tigers cruised to a 8-1 victory, with Lolich tossing a complete game with six hits, one run allowed, two walks, and nine K’s. Lolich also hit a solo home run off Nelson Briles in the third inning. It was the only home run in Lolich’s entire career; he only hit .110 in 1,017 career plate appearances.
The Cardinals won the next two games at Tiger Stadium, with McLain getting shelled and Gibson tossing another complete game (1 ER, 5 Hits, 10 K’s) in Game 4. So, for the Tigers, Game 5 was an elimination game. Lolich was back on the bump and led Detroit to a 5-3 victory. In another complete game victory, he gave up 9 hits, 3 ER, with one walk and 8 strikeouts. Once again, Lolich contributed offensively. In the bottom of the 7th, with the Tigers trailing 3-2, Lolich hit a one-out single to right field. Three batters later, he scored the tying run on a two-run single by Kaline. Game 6 was a laugher, with Detroit winning 13-1 behind a complete game victory by McLain.
On just two days of rest, Lolich was tapped for the Game 7 start against the seemingly invincible Gibson. The two hurlers matched zeroes for six innings until the top of the 7th, when the Tigers strung together four two-out hits to score three runs. Detroit tacked on another run in the top of the 9th. In the bottom of the 9th, with a 4-0 lead, Lolich retired Curt Flood on a liner to short and future Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda on a foul pop to Freehan. After Mike Shannon hit a two-out solo home run, Lolich got Tim McCarver to pop out to Freehan to secure the 4-1 victory and the Tigers’ first World Series title since 1945.
Lolich became the 12th pitcher to win three games in a single World Series, and he is the last to win three complete-game Fall Classic contests in one year. He was named the MVP of the Series.
Mickey Lolich’s Prime Years (1969-73)
Although he consistently posted big strikeout numbers, Mickey Lolich was merely average in the first six years of his MLB career, going 83-63 with a 3.53 ERA. Using modern metrics, his ERA+ was below average (97), and his WAR was just 9.5 for those six campaigns.
As if a lightbulb went off with his historic World Series performance, Lolich transformed into one of the best pitchers in baseball for the five seasons.
A first-time All-Star in 1969, Lolich went 19-11 with a 3.14 ERA and 271 strikeouts, which was the second most in the A.L. to Sam McDowell. Although his ERA was barely lower than the 3.19 mark he posted in ’68, the mounds were lowered for the ’69 campaign, and so the MLB average zoomed up from 2.98 to 3.61, so his ERA+ was 119, the best mark of his career thusfar. Although McLain had another Cy Young campaign, the team’s 90 wins weren’t nearly enough to win the newly formed American League East. The Baltimore Orioles won 109 games that year.
Lolich got off to a strong start in 1970 (going 4-1 with a 1.38 ERA) but slumped for the rest of the season, finishing 14-19 with a 3.80 ERA in a season in which the Tigers slumped to 79 wins. Lolich suffered a lot of tough losses, with seven of them occurring in starts in which he posted quality starts (at least six IP, with three ER or less).
Under a new manager (Billy Martin), the 30-year-old Lolich rebounded in 1971 for the best year of his career. He went 25-14 with a 2.92 ERA. Besides leading the A.L. in wins, he also led the league in Innings Pitched (376), Complete Games (29), and Strikeouts (308). He made his second All-Star team, finished 2nd in the Cy Young voting to Vida Blue, and 5th in the MVP vote, behind Blue, Sal Bando, Frank Robinson, and Brooks Robinson. The Tigers won 91 games, but that was 10 fewer than Baltimore’s 101.
From his SABR bio, Lolich’s transformation in 1971 was in part due to a cut fastball that pitching coach Johnny Sain had been trying to teach him for years.
Lolich backed up his near Cy Young season with another stellar campaign in 1972, going 22-14 with a 2.50 ERA and 250 strikeouts, second in the league behind Nolan Ryan. He made his third and final All-Star squad and finished third in the Cy Young vote behind future Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry and Wilbur Wood.
The ’72 Tigers went 86-70 in the first season to be slightly shortened by a player strike, and that was good enough to win the A.L. East. In his final start of the regular season, Lolich beat the Boston Red Sox 4-1 at Tiger Stadium, fanning 15 batters to vault Detroit ahead of Boston by a half-game.
The Tigers matched up against the Oakland A’s in the ALCS. In Game 1 at Oakland-Alameda Coliseum, Lolich faced off against future Hall of Famer Catfish Hunter. After nine innings, the score was tied at 1-1. Hunter was relieved in the 9th by Blue for one batter and then future Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers, but Lolich kept going into extra innings, retiring the A’s in order in the bottom of the 10th. The 37-year-old Kaline hit a solo home run off Fingers in the top of the 11th to give Detroit a 2-1 lead. Then, in the bottom of the frame, Lolich gave up back-to-back singles to Bando and Mike Epstein.
Martin brought in reliever Chuck Seelbach to face Gene Tenace. After the A’s catcher bunted into a forceout, pinch-hitter Gonzalo Marquez singled to right field, which should have only tied the game. However, a throwing error by Kaline allowed Tenace to score from first base to make Lolich the hard-luck loser.
After the Tigers and A’s split the next two games, Lolich and Hunter faced off again in Game 4 at Tiger Stadium. Once again, the score was tied 1-1 after nine innings, with Lolich giving up only a solo home run to Epstein. In the bottom of the 9th, with Blue on the mound for Oakland, Tigers second baseman Tony Taylor hit a two-out double. After an intentional walk, Martin pinch-hit for Lolich (with Willie Horton) to try to deliver the win. But Horton flied out to deep center field, sending the game to extra innings. The A’s scored two runs in the top of the 10th, but the Tigers scored three in the bottom of the frame to extend the series to a fifth and final game. Oakland won that game 2-1 and would go on to win the first of the franchise’s three consecutive World Series titles.
After two dominant campaigns, Lolich regressed slightly in 1973, going 16-15 with a 3.82 ERA. The Tigers finished 3rd in the A.L. East, 12 games behind the Orioles.
Mickey Lolich’s Final Seasons (1974-79)
At age 33, Mickey Lolich started the decline phase of his career in 1974. He went 16-21 with a 4.15 ERA for a Tigers’ squad that only won 72 games. On 25 May 1975, he won the 200th game of his MLB career, but the season was frustrating overall. After his first 17 starts, the 34-year-old lefty had a solid 10-5 record with a 3.31 ERA.
For the rest of the year, however, he went just 2-11 with a 4.28 ERA, with shockingly poor run support. From July 11th through September 13th (14 starts), he was 1-13, thanks to a grand total of 14 runs of support by his offensive mates. In 10 of those 14 starts, the Tigers were either shut out (7 times) or scored just one run (3 times). Lolich did win his final start of the season with a complete game victory over the Red Sox, in what would be his final start wearing a Tigers uniform. Overall, it was one of the most miserable seasons for the Tigers in the franchise’s history; they went 57-102.
In 13 years in Detroit, Lolich went 207-175 with a 3.45 ERA and 2,679 strikeouts, which, as we’ve seen, were the most for a left-hander in A.L. history. Regardless of the league or the arm used to pitch, those 2,679 K’s were the most in all of baseball for those 13 campaigns. Additionally, his 3,361.2 IP from 1963-75 were the second most in MLB, behind only Gaylord Perry. He pitched more than 300 innings in four of his last five seasons with Detroit.
As previously noted, on December 12, 1975, Lolich was traded to the New York Mets in a four-player trade that brought outfielder Rusty Staub to Detroit. It was an unpopular trade in both cities, as both stars were beloved by the local fans.
Lolich pitched fairly well in his one season in Flushing, but, as the fourth starter behind Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, and Jon Matlack, he went only 8-13 with a 3.22 ERA in 192.2 innings.
Lolich didn’t like it in New York (he never moved his family from Michigan) and chose to retire after the season in order to get out of fulfilling the second year of his two-year contract.
After taking a year off, Lolich spent the last two years of his career pitching mostly out of the bullpen for the San Diego Padres. He pitched well in 1978, posting a 1.56 ERA in 34.2 innings. In 1979, it wasn’t so good; his ERA was 4.74 in 49.1 innings. After the ’79 campaign, Lolich hung up his cleats for good and returned home to Michigan.
The Hall of Fame Case for and Against Mickey Lolich
As we noted earlier, Mickey Lolich lasted for all fifteen years of his eligibility for the BBWAA Hall of Fame ballot. He debuted on the ballot in 1985, earning 19.7% of the vote. Three years later, he got 25.5%, which is far shy of the 75% needed for induction into Cooperstown but a decent tally. The next year (1989), Gaylord Perry, Fergie Jenkins, and Jim Kaat hit the ballot for the first time, and Lolich’s 217 wins looked paltry all of a sudden. Thus, his vote share plunged to 10.5%, and he would never surpass that number in his final ten years of eligibility.
Lolich was also considered for three Veterans Committee ballots (in 2003, 2005, and 2007) but never got higher than 16% support.
Given that so many of his peers in the 1960s and 1970s were piling up huge win totals, Lolich’s case for Cooperstown is fairly thin. It’s based on two things: being one of the premier strikeout pitchers in baseball history and his incredible postseason performances.
After his last season as a starting pitcher (1976), Lolich was 5th in baseball history with 2,799 strikeouts. Only Walter Johnson, Bob Gibson, Jim Bunning (Lolich’s teammate in 1963), and Cy Young had more whiffs than Mickey.
As of 1979, his final MLB campaign, Lolich was still 7th on the all-time strikeout list, with Gaylord Perry, Tom Seaver, and Nolan Ryan having passed him, and with Lolich having passed Young. By 1985, his first year on the BBWAA ballot, he had dropped to 12th, behind Steve Carlton, Don Sutton, Phil Niekro, Jenkins, Bert Blyleven, and the pitchers previously mentioned.
Still, that’s a good list, with all Hall of Fame pitchers. Plus, if you go down the list from 13th to 16th, you get four more pitchers enshrined in Cooperstown: Young, Warren Spahn, Bob Feller, and Tim Keefe.
Even today, Lolich is 23rd all-time in strikeouts. The 22 pitchers in front of him include 16 Hall of Famers, one who would be if not for using PEDs (Roger Clemens), another who should be but Tweeted his way out of Cooperstown (Curt Schilling), and four more who aren’t yet eligible but are locks to make the Hall (Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Clayton Kershaw, and Zack Greinke).
Now, let’s tackle the postseason piece. In five career postseason starts (1968 and 1972), Lolich went 3-1 with a 1.57 ERA in 46 innings. Using a minimum standard of 40 innings, Lolich’s 1.57 ERA is the 7th best in the history of the postseason (excluding the Negro Leagues). He’s behind Mariano Rivera, Sandy Koufax, Christy Mathewson, Eddie Plank, Stephen Strasburg, and Ranger Suarez. His postseason ERA is lower than that of October legends such as Bob Gibson, Madison Bumgarner, Curt Schilling, Jon Lester, and Orel Hershiser.
Finally, since we mentioned the Hall of Famer Jim Bunning earlier, the future U.S. Senator from Kentucky is #1 on Lolich’s “Similarity Score” list on Baseball Reference.
| Pitcher | Wins | Losses | WL% | ERA | IP | SO | CG | SHO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lolich | 217 | 191 | .532 | 3.44 | 3638.1 | 2832 | 195 | 41 |
| Bunning | 224 | 184 | .549 | 3.27 | 3760.1 | 2855 | 151 | 40 |
Kind of hard to pick between the two, isn’t it?
Poking Holes in the Mickey Lolich Hall of Fame Case
OK, everything in the section above makes a solid case for Mickey Lolich for the Hall of Fame, but if you’re not really buying it yet, neither am I. Let’s start with the comparison to Bunning. When you go beyond the basics to two key sabermetric stats, Bunning is far superior. His adjusted ERA (ERA+) was 115, compared to Lolich’s 104. And Bunning’s career pitching WAR (60.3) is much higher than Lolich’s (47.9).
Next, if you go beyond Bunning on Lolich’s “Similarity Score” list, you get nine pitchers who aren’t in the Hall of Fame: Jerry Koosman, Jerry Reuss, Rick Reuschel, Luis Tiant, Curt Simmons, Billy Pierce, Jim Perry, Vida Blue, and Joe Niekro.
What about the strikeouts? That’s a big deal, to be sure, being in 23rd place on that list, but if you go to #24 through #28, you get Frank Tanana, David Cone, and Chuck Finley on the list, along with Hall of Famers Mike Mussina and Cy Young.
If Lolich’s regular-season career statistics were a bit closer to the mark for his contemporaries, his postseason resume might tip the scales in his favor, but as previously noted, he pitched in the 1960s and ’70s, when the standards of pitching were so much higher than they are today.
Lolich debuted in 1963. If you take all the pitchers to debut in the five years prior (to 1958) and since (1968) Lolich’s maiden MLB campaign, there are already 13 pitchers enshrined with plaques in Cooperstown: Tom Seaver, Phil Niekro, Gaylord Perry, Steve Carlton, Nolan Ryan, Fergie Jenkins, Bob Gibson, Don Sutton, Jim Palmer, Juan Marichal, Jim Kaat, Catfish Hunter, and Rollie Fingers. All but Fingers were starting pitchers, and all have more than Lolich’s 217 career wins. Only Kaat (3.45) had a higher ERA than Lolich’s 3.44, but Kaat won 283 games.
The weakest Hall of Famer among this baker’s dozen is Hunter, who went 224-166 in his career with a 3.26 ERA. Catfish, however, has the advantage of a Cy Young Award, five consecutive 20-win seasons, and five World Series rings. One could reasonably say, “If Catfish is in the Hall of Fame, Lolich should be too,” but there are many other pitchers for whom you could make the same argument.
If you widen the lens to include any pitcher to debut in the ten years prior to Lolich’s debut (starting in 1953) to ten years since he debuted (to 1973), you get five more Hall of Fame hurlers: Don Drysdale, Sandy Koufax, Bert Blyleven, Goose Gossage, and the afore-mentioned Jim Bunning.
The Best Pitchers from Mickey Lolich’s Generation Not in the Hall of Fame
When taking stock in overlooked players who never made the Hall of Fame, one of the first questions I ask myself is this: “Is this player the best at his position from his generation who is not already in the Hall of Fame?”
So, let’s take a look at the top ten pitchers (ranked by career Wins) who are not already enshrined in the Hall of Fame who made their MLB debuts between 1953 and 1973.
| Pitcher | Wins | Losses | WL% | IP | ERA | SO | CG | SHO | WAR | ERA+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tommy John | 288 | 231 | .555 | 4710.1 | 3.34 | 2245 | 162 | 46 | 62.1 | 111 |
| Frank Tanana | 240 | 236 | .504 | 4188.1 | 3.66 | 2773 | 143 | 34 | 57.1 | 106 |
| Luis Tiant | 229 | 172 | .571 | 3486.1 | 3.30 | 2416 | 187 | 49 | 65.7 | 114 |
| Jerry Koosman | 222 | 209 | .515 | 3839.1 | 3.36 | 2556 | 140 | 33 | 57.0 | 110 |
| Joe Niekro | 221 | 204 | .520 | 3584.1 | 3.59 | 1747 | 107 | 29 | 28.7 | 98 |
| Jerry Reuss | 220 | 191 | .535 | 3669.2 | 3.64 | 1907 | 127 | 39 | 32.9 | 100 |
| Mickey Lolich | 217 | 191 | .532 | 3638.1 | 3.44 | 2832 | 195 | 41 | 47.9 | 104 |
| Charlie Hough | 216 | 216 | .500 | 3801.1 | 3.75 | 2362 | 107 | 13 | 39.0 | 106 |
| Jim Perry | 215 | 174 | .553 | 3285.2 | 3.45 | 1576 | 109 | 32 | 38.5 | 106 |
| Rick Reuschel | 214 | 191 | .528 | 3548.1 | 3.37 | 2015 | 102 | 26 | 68.1 | 114 |
On this list, the pitcher that stands out is Tommy John. Besides being the first pitcher to have the ulnar collateral ligament surgery that now bears his name, his 288 career Wins are the most for any 20th-century pitcher who is not already in the Hall of Fame. John was most recently on the Hall of Fame ballot in December 2024, on an Era Committee ballot that elected Dick Allen and Dave Parker. John did reasonably well on that vote, getting 7 out of 16 votes, far shy of the 12 (75%) needed for a plaque in Cooperstown, but the third-most on that eight-player ballot. The Era Committee is the current version of what used to be known as the Veterans Committee.
The late Luis Tiant has also been on numerous recent Era Committee ballots, but has never gotten close to the Hall of Fame.
On this list, Lolich is the only other pitcher who has ever appeared on a Veterans or Era Committee ballot, but the ballots he appeared on (in 2003, ’05, and ’07) all had dozens of candidates, and never elected anybody. Today’s version (the Classic Baseball Era Committee ballot) limits the ballots to just eight players, spanning over 100 years. John will almost certainly be on the next version of that ballot (in December 2027), but who the other players will be is difficult to forecast.
Anyway, back to the question: “Is this player the best at his position from his generation who is not already in the Hall?” It’s hard to make a case that Lolich is that guy. To me, he’s behind both John and Tiant for sure. Maybe he’s #3 on this list, but statheads might have a word about Rick Reuschel.
Final Thoughts about Mickey Lolich
If one were to write a book about the history of baseball, Mickey Lolich would be a part of it. There would be poetry to a retelling of the 1968 World Series if the Game 7 matchup (Lolich vs. Bob Gibson) were a matchup of two future Hall of Famers. Lolich’s career reminds me of Hall of Famer Jack Morris, another longtime workhorse for the Detroit Tigers.
In 1984, Morris led the Tigers to their first World Series Championship since Lolich’s ’68 squad, going 3-0 with a 1.80 ERA in three postseason starts, which included two complete games in the Fall Classic. What Morris had that Lolich lacks, besides more regular-season wins (254), are two more World Series rings. The famous one came in 1991, with the Minnesota Twins, when he won two games and bested another future Hall of Famer (John Smoltz) in a ten-inning shutout performance in Game 7.
Morris won a third ring in 1992, with the Toronto Blue Jays, and helped the Jays win the A.L. East with 21 wins in the regular-season but was the losing pitcher in Games 1 and 5 of the World Series. The Jays defeated the Atlanta Braves in six games despite those two losses.
Anyway, take a look at the career regular-season statistics of Morris and Lolich:
| Pitcher | W | L | WL% | ERA | IP | SO | CG | SHO | WAR | ERA+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lolich | 217 | 191 | .532 | 3.44 | 3638.1 | 2832 | 195 | 41 | 47.9 | 104 |
| Morris | 254 | 186 | .577 | 3.90 | 3824.0 | 2478 | 175 | 28 | 43.6 | 105 |
Morris got fairly close to Cooperstown via the BBWAA, getting as high as 67.7% in 2013, and was later elected by the Modern Baseball Era Committee for the Hall’s Class of 2018.
Besides the extra rings, the biggest difference between Morris and Lolich, to these eyes, is that Morris pitched entirely in the era of the designated hitter and stood out more above his peers. From 1967 to 1987, the ten years before and after Morris’s 1977 debut, there are only four other starting pitchers in the Hall: Tom Seaver, Bert Blyleven, Greg Maddux, and Tom Glavine. Dennis Eckersley, who was a longtime starter before becoming a Hall of Famer out of the bullpen, also debuted during this era.
It is extremely unlikely that Mickey Lolich will ever make it to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, but he was elected to the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 1982. In the long history of the Detroit Tigers, he’s on the list with Morris, Bunning, Hal Newhouser, and Justin Verlander as one of the greatest pitchers in the history of the franchise.
Today, although we’re not celebrating a Hall of Famer, we remember a life well lived. In his post-playing days, he owned a doughnut shop and remained a regular at the Tigers’ fantasy camp in Lakeland, Florida. As a man who didn’t have the sculpted physique of a typical athlete, his everyman quality made him one of the most popular athletes in the history of the Motor City. As the Detroit News put it, “He didn’t act like a big shot superstar, he was one of us.”
RIP, Mickey.