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The baseball world mourns the loss of a player who made history with the Detroit Tigers.
Mickey Lolich, remembered as the Tigers’ 1968 World Series hero, has died, the Tigers announced. He was 85. Lolich is the last MLB pitcher to win three games in the league’s championship series, the World Series. He was named World Series MVP that year.
The Tigers said Lolich’s wife informed the franchise that Lolich was recently in hospice care. The cause of death was not disclosed.
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FILE – In this Oct. 3, 1968, file photo, Mickey Lolich of the Detroit Tigers is shown on the field during the second game of the World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri. (AP Photo/File)
Lolich is 23rd on the all-time career strikeouts list with 2,832 punchouts.
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Lolich was an unlikely star in the Tigers’ 1968 title run. During a reunion of the World Series team, he recalled how manager Mayo Smith had sent him to the center of gravity for most of August. He returned to the Tigers’ starting rotation and was 6-1 in recent weeks.
“I had a few problems, but I had been a starting pitcher ever since 1964,” said Lolich, who was upset about being moved. “I remember telling him, ‘If we win this thing this year, it’s going to be because of me.’ But I was only talking about the season. I wasn’t talking about the World Series.
“I got my revenge in the World Series,” he said.
FILE – Detroit Tigers pitcher Mickey Lolich poses for a photo, March 1968. (AP Photo, File)
Lolich pitched Game 7 after only two days of rest. He figured he would get a Corvette from General Motors for being the Series MVP, but he had to settle for a Dodge Charger GT because Chrysler was a sponsor in 1968.
“Nothing against the Chargers, nothing at all,” Lolich said in his book, “Joy in Tigertown.” “It’s just that I already had two of them in my driveway.”
Since Lolich, only two pitchers have won three games in a single World Series: Arizona’s Randy Johnson in 2001 and Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2025. But they pitched fewer innings and earned their third wins in relief.
FILE – Former Detroit Tigers pitcher Mickey Lolich throws out the ceremonial first pitch before a baseball game between the Tigers and the Pittsburgh Pirates, March 30, 2018, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)
In a statement, the Tigers expressed their condolences to Lolich’s family and said his legacy will be “forever cherished.”
After his baseball career, Lolich entered the donut business in the Detroit suburbs, making and selling them for 18 years.
