NEWYou can now listen to PK Press Club articles!
The baseball world mourns the loss of a player who made history with the Detroit Tigers.
Mickey Lolich, considered the Tigers’ hero during the 1968 World Series, has died, the Tigers announced. He was 85 years old. 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 had recently been treated at a hospice facility. The cause of death has not been released.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON PK Press Club
FILE – In this Oct. 3, 1968, file photo, Mickey Lolich of the Detroit Tigers is shown pitching during Game 2 of the World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo/AP file)
Lolich is No. 23 on the all-time career strikeouts list with 2,832 strikeouts.
2026 WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: JAZZ CHISOLM JR OF THE YANKS. BACK TO GREAT BRITAIN
Lolich was an unlikely star of the Tigers’ title run in 1968. At a World Series team meeting, he recalled how manager Mayo Smith sent him to the bullpen for much of August. He returned to the Tigers’ starting rotation and was 6-1 in recent weeks.
“I had some problems, but I had been a starting pitcher since 1964,” said Lolich, upset by the bullpen move. “I remember telling him, ‘If we win this game this year, it will 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 started Game 7 after just two days of rest. He thought he would get a General Motors Corvette to be the series MVP, but he had to settle for a Dodge Charger GT because Chrysler was the 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 in my driveway.”
Since Lolich, only two pitchers have won three games in a single World Series: Arizona’s Randy Johnson in 2001 and the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto in 2025. But they pitched fewer innings and earned their third victory 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 on 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 went into the donut business in suburban Detroit, making and selling them for 18 years.
