RIP Mike Flanagan

[Steak Snabler]

Former Orioles pitcher and 1979 Cy Young Award winner apparently found dead on his Baltimore-area property:

http://www.wbal.com/absolutenm/templates/story.aspx?articleid=79031&zoneid=40

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-county/bs-md-co-flanagan-house-death-20110824,0,4675762.story

(Will remove the question mark in the thread title once there's police confirmation that it's Flanagan).

 

[Cosmo]

Re: RIP Mike Flanagan?

Trent Rosencrans at CBSsports.com offers this:

http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/22297882/31532739

 

[Cosmo]

Re: RIP Mike Flanagan?

Also, Buster Olney is tweeting extensively about it.

 

[Steak Snabler]

Re: RIP Mike Flanagan?

Sun confirms Flanagan's death:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-county/bs-md-co-flanagan-house-death-20110824,0,4675762.story

 

[lantaur]

Re: RIP Mike Flanagan?

Orioles confirmed it. A lot of Tweeting about it (#RIPMikeFlanagan). Jim Palmer crying during the post-game show on MASN. As a lifelong Orioles fan ... not even sure what to say. RIP.

 

[old_tony]

This just sucks. A great pitcher on a great team. That 1979 Orioles team was so good it had three games rained out and didn't have to make any up because they ran away from a 95-win Brewers team by eight games.

I still think that '79 World Series loss to Pittsburgh was one of the bigger upsets in WS history.

 

[hondo]

Damn. Loved to watch Flanagan pitch because he'd gut out eight innings on nothing but spit (yes, he did) and balls. He battled as well as anyone I ever saw. That Orioles rotation in the late 70s and early 80s that included Flanagan, Palmer, Steve Stone, Scott McGregor and Mike Boddicker was a clinic every game in how to pitch without overpowering batters.

 

[Elliotte Friedman]

Here's Palmer post-game:

http://bit.ly/qRFZFu

As the Blue Jays choked away the division to Detroit in 1987, Flanagan battled Jack Morris on the second-last day of the season. He went 11 innings, gave up 8 hits and 2 runs (1 unearned), striking out 9. It was a game Toronto HAD to have, and he was phenomenal. They finally took him out in the 12th, and Alan Trammell put it through Manny Lee's legs to win it.

 

[Corky Ramirez up on 94th St.]

I'm not an Orioles fan but man, am I saddened about this. I admired those late 70s/early 80s teams and he was tops in '79.

Sad news.

 

[Corky Ramirez up on 94th St.]

I just read the stories and I see he most likely took his own life. How incredibly sad.

I think back to the '79 WS, and his gutty performance in Game 1. Threw at least 120 pitches and got out of a lot of jams, including the ninth in a one-run game when Dave Parker was at third base and Willie Stargell at the plate. Got him to pop out to Mark Belanger to end it.

Old_tony is right ... Orioles should have won that Series. Up 3-1 with Flanagan, Palmer and McGregor in Games 5, 6 and 7? Talk about a sure bet.

 

[Bubbler]

Per Yahoo, some TV stations are reporting it might be suicide. I hope that's not true.

 

[jr/shotglass]

I'm devastated over this. RIP, Flanny.

 

[HanSenSE]

Per Yahoo, some TV stations are reporting it might be suicide. I hope that's not true.

http://www.wbaltv.com/news/28967968/detail.html

Police did not immediately identify the cause of death, but sources confirmed that Flanagan took his own life "despondent over what he considered a false perception from a community he loved of his role in the team's prolonged failure," Sandusky* said.

If true, even more tragic. RIP.
*-WBAL sports director Gerry Sandusky.

 

[BYH]

Wow. Not that this isn't already awful, but that would add an almost incomprehensible layer of sadness to the story.

 

[buckweaver]

God, I hope that's not true. I can't even begin to comprehend that being true. He was beloved in Baltimore, and still is.

Remember watching Flanagan pitch many times at Memorial Stadium as a kid. RIP.

 

[Chef2]

Proof that you don't have to throw the ball 102 MPH to be a helluva pitcher.

RIP.

 

[Flying Headbutt]

Tim Kurkjian's piece on ESPN.com is really, really good.

Personally, watching him on TV it never seemed like he was too happy with being in that booth this year. The team was ****ty and it seemed all he could do to not say it. And they'd have been better if Peter Angelos trusted Flanny instead of his dickbag son.

That said, I don't think, or at least I hope, there was more to this than baseball.

Sad day in Baltimore. The guy cared more about the Orioles than anything else.

 

[Steak Snabler]

Tim Kurkjian's piece on ESPN.com is really, really good.

Yep

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/6894031/mlb-cy-young-winner-mike-flanagan-1951-2011

I'd been trying to remember the following anecdote so I could post it here. I'm glad Kurkjian had it:

In 1980, as another Orioles pitcher, Steve Stone, was on his way to winning the Cy Young, Flanagan determined the different stages of Cy: He was the reigning Cy Young. "[Jim] Palmer is Cy Old," he said. "Stone is Cy Present and Storm [Davis] is Cy Future. When you get hurt, you become Cy-bex. When you're done, you become Cy-onara."

Funny stuff. RIP.

 

[93Devil]

RIP

And, yes, down 3-1, the Pirates had no business winning that series. [/JimRooker]

One of the few times hitting trumped great pitching.

 

[Sea Bass]

Tim Kurkjian's piece on ESPN.com is really, really good.

Yep

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/6894031/mlb-cy-young-winner-mike-flanagan-1951-2011

I'd been trying to remember the following anecdote so I could post it here. I'm glad Kurkjian had it:

In 1980, as another Orioles pitcher, Steve Stone, was on his way to winning the Cy Young, Flanagan determined the different stages of Cy: He was the reigning Cy Young. "[Jim] Palmer is Cy Old," he said. "Stone is Cy Present and Storm [Davis] is Cy Future. When you get hurt, you become Cy-bex. When you're done, you become Cy-onara."

Funny stuff. RIP.

I think Flanagan also hung "Cy Clone" on Storm Davis when he broke in.