RIP Mickey Lolich

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Lolich is the perfect definition of a HOPG pitcher. He was one of the top couple pitchers in baseball for a couple years, but he hit the skids so hard after his Herculean 1971 season that his HOF chances went out the window.

Ironically, Lolich is used today as one of the archetypes of the old-school iron-armed pitchers who could throw millions of pitches and never bat an eye, but really, after throwing 376 in 1971 at the age of 30, his career hit the skids a couple years later and
his HOF chances fizzled.
 
It’s funny how time warps things.

Even though I know Mickey Lolich’s legacy is thoroughly connected to the Detroit Tigers, since I started following baseball in the late 70s, I think of him, based on my own memory, as a Padre.

I’m sure everyone has players like that depending on when they started following the sport. I think of Sal Bando as a Brewer, I think of Luis Tiant as a Yankee, etc.
 
It’s funny how time warps things.

Even though I know Mickey Lolich’s legacy is thoroughly connected to the Detroit Tigers, since I started following baseball in the late 70s, I think of him, based on my own memory, as a Padre.

I’m sure everyone has players like that depending on when they started following the sport. I think of Sal Bando as a Brewer, I think of Luis Tiant as a Yankee, etc.
Even though most remember Carlton Fisk for his Red Sox career, as a White Sox fan I know he actually played more years in Chicago. It ended bitterly with him sent out to pasture in left field, then abruptly released by the team in 1993. Jerry Reinsdorf is a greedy, pompous *******.
 
The Phillies remain the MLB team with the most losses all-time (11,392) and were the first to 10K.

NL teams were in existence longer and have more losses. The Orioles, née Browns, have the AL's most with 10,171, followed by the Twins, née Senators, with 10,047. The A's 55th loss in 2026 will mark 10K.

Philly fans are long-suffering but can point to some hardware at least. I guess that makes fandom worthwhile.
 
Even though most remember Carlton Fisk for his Red Sox career, as a White Sox fan I know he actually played more years in Chicago. It ended bitterly with him sent out to pasture in left field, then abruptly released by the team in 1993. Jerry Reinsdorf is a greedy, pompous *******.
The guy was 45 years old and had an OPS of .473 his final season. The year before his OPS was .622. His last two years he was stealing money.
 
The guy was 45 years old and had an OPS of .473 his final season. The year before his OPS was .622. His last two years he was stealing money.
If memory serves, he came back in 1993 to set the record for games played as a catcher. The end-of-career slump came as the White Sox were in the running for, and won, the AL West title, so eventually Fisk was cut loose. And Karkovice was certainly better behind the plate (although never a good hitter himself).
 
I'm an oddball as most of my childhood heroes did actually finish with the Brewers. Robin Yount, Cecil Cooper, Jim Gantner, Ben Oglivie, Larry Hisle, Mike Caldwell, Pete Vuckovich, Rollie Fingers ... they never went anywhere else. Gorman Thomas was traded and came back to finish out. A few others left for maybe a year tops. Of course, that changed soon after when the gulf between haves and have nots in market size became more pronounced.
 
I'm an oddball as most of my childhood heroes did actually finish with the Brewers. Robin Yount, Cecil Cooper, Jim Gantner, Ben Oglivie, Larry Hisle, Mike Caldwell, Pete Vuckovich, Rollie Fingers ... they never went anywhere else. Gorman Thomas was traded and came back to finish out. A few others left for maybe a year tops. Of course, that changed soon after when the gulf between haves and have nots in market size became more pronounced.
I think Vuckovich and Fingers came from the Cards after the 1980 season when Herzog went trade-crazy. Guess you couldn't argue the results because StL won 3 pennants in the 1980s and beat the Brewers in 1982.
 

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