Mickey Lolich, 1940-2026

Who is the all-time leader in batters struck out? Nolan Ryan. Among lefthanded pitchers? Randy Johnson. Before him? Steve Carlton. Before him?

Mickey Lolich.

The other three are in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Lolich is not.

Michael Stephen Lolich was born on September 12, 1940 in Portland, Oregon, to parents of Croatian descent. As a boy, a tricycle accident caused an injury that forced him to become lefthanded. A 1964 article in the Indianapolis News wrote, "He now eats, writes and bats right-handed, pitches left-handed and thinks sideways."

He went to Lincoln High School in Portland, whos alumni also include baseball star Johnny Pesky, basketball star Swede Halbrook, cartoon voice king Mel Blanc, Simpsons creator Matt Groening, ill-fated actress Rebecca Schaeffer, U.S. Senator Richard Neuberger, artist Mark Rothko and Beat Generation poet Gary Snyder.

He graduated in 1958, and was immediately signed by the Detroit Tigers. After a difficult introduction to the pros, where a sportswriter called him a "flamethrowing wildman," the Tigers loaned him to his hometown team, the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League, where he learned control, and earned his way into the bigs.

He made his major league debut on May 12, 1963, pitching 2 scoreless innings of relief in a 9-3 Tiger loss to the Cleveland Indians at Tiger Stadium. He was put into the starting rotation in 1964, and went 18-9, and then 15-9 in 1965. In 1967, he was just 14-13, but led the American League in shutouts with 6, as the Tigers fell 1 games short of the Pennant.

The 1968 season was "The Year of the Pitcher." In the National League, Bob Gibson went 22-9 with a 1.12 ERA, the lowest in the post-1920 Lively Ball Era; Juan Marichal went 26-9; and Don Drysdale only went 14-12, but pitched a new record of 58 2/3rds consecutive scoreless innings.

In the American League, Sam McDowell, who pitched a complete-game victory in Lolich's debut, went 15-14, but had a 1.81 ERA, and led both Leagues in strikeouts with 283; his Cleveland teammate, Luis Tiant, went 21-9 and led the AL with 1.60; Mel Stottlemyre of the Yankees went 21-12 with 2.45; and Denny McLain became the 1st pitcher in 32 years to win 30 games in a season, going 31-6 with 280 strikeouts and a 1.96 ERA. Lolich had a very good season by most standards, going 17-9 with 3.19 and 197 strikeouts.

Following the near-miss and the riot of 1967, Detroit needed a winner, and the Tigers won their 1st Pennant in 23 years. But they ran smack into the defending World Champions, the St. Louis Cardinals, and in Game 1, Bob Gibson set a World Series record with 17 strikeouts, beating McLain. Lolich won Game 2, hitting a home run to aid his own cause. But the Cards won Game 3 and 4, with Gibson beating McLain again. They won Game 5, behind Lolich, then Game 6 behind McLain on short rest.

Manager Mayo Smith started Lolich in Game 7, on 2 days' rest, to face Gibson, on 3. Jim Northrup's 3-run triple in the 7th inning broke up a scoreless tie, and each team added a run in the 9th, but Lolich finished the job, and the Tigers won, 4-1, to win the World Series for the 1st time since 1945. Lolich joined Harry Brecheen of the 1946 Cardinals as only the 2nd lefthanded pitcher to win 3 games in a single World Series, and was named its Most Valuable Player.

While McLain's star would fall, Lolich remained one of the AL's top pitchers. He went 19-11 in 1969. The Tigers fell apart in 1970, in part due to McLain's shenanigans, but the team as a whole slumped, and McLain was only 14-19.

But he went 25-14 in 1971, leading the major leagues in wins, and in strikeouts with 308. But he lost the Cy Young Award to Vida Blue. In addition, Blue started the All-Star Game over him, even though it was at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Lolich was, however, the 1st reliever used in the Game. In 1972, he went 22-14, made the last of his 3 All-Star Games, and helped the Tigers win the AL Eastern Division.

But the Tigers' 1967-72 core, led by Al Kaline, was getting old, and fell apart. Lolich went 16-15 in 1973, 16-12 in 1974, and 12-18 in 1975. The Tigers traded him to the Mets for Rusty Staub. Going from one aging team getting broken up to another, he was just 8-13 in 1976, and was upset with team management, especially manager Joe Frazier and his coaching staff. He retired.

He went back to the Detroit suburb of Rochester, Michigan, and opened a doughnut shop. Which was considered ironic, as he was considered fat in his time, the original "hefty lefty" or "portly portsider." He was considerably thinner, though, than later pitchers Terry Forster, David Wells and CC Sabathia. (And righthanders like Rod Beck, Rich Garces and Bartolo Colón.) Asked about it, he said that he rarely sampled his own product, and mentioned the old line, "Never trust a skinny cook."

He sat out the 1977 season, which allowed him to become a free agent. The San Diego Padres signed him, and he pitched 47 games for them over the next 2 seasons, mostly in relief, and retired after being released after the 1979 season. His career record was 217-191, with a 3.44 ERA, a 1.227 WHIP, and 2,832 strikeouts. He had surpassed Warren Spahn as the all-time leader in that category among lefthanded pitchers. He was soon surpassed as such by Steve Carlton, who was eventually surpassed by Randy Johnson.

With his former Tiger teammate Bill Freehan, he started 324 games, a new major league record for most starts together for a pitcher-catcher combination, or "battery." That record stood until 2022, when Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina of the St. Louis Cardinals raised it to 328.

*

Should Mickey Lolich be in the Baseball Hall of Fame? Among lefthanded pitchers, he still ranks 5th all-time in strikeouts, behind Johnson, Carlton, CC Sabathia and Clayton Kershaw. Among lefties in the post-1947 Integration Era, he ranks 17th.

Baseball-Reference.com has a "Hall of Fame Monitor," on which a "Likely HOFer" is at 100. Lolich is at 99, suggesting that he falls just short. B-R also has "Hall of Fame Standards," which is weighted more toward career achievement, and on which the "Average HOFer" is at 50. Lolich is at 37, suggesting that he doesn't come all that close.

B-R also has "Similarity Scores," which, weighted toward players of the same position but not completely tied to them (except for pitchers), which shows the 10 players who are most statistically similar to that player. Lolich's Top 10 are Jim Bunning, Jerry Koosman, Jerry Reuss, Rick Reuschel, Luis Tiant, Curt Simmons, Billy Pierce, Jim Perry, Vida Blue and Joe Niekro. Of those, only Bunning is in the Hall, although Koosman, Tiant and Blue have their supporters.

Put it all together, and it looks like Lolich just doesn't quite make it. However, he was elected to the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame, and the Croatian-American Sports Hall of Fame.

In the late 1990s, he sold the doughnut shop and retired. He remained active in charity work, and served as a coach at the Tigers' baseball fantasy camp in their Spring Training facility at Lakeland, Florida.

He married Joyce Fleenor, and they were together for 61 years. They had 3 daughters: Kimberly, Stacy and Jody; and 3 grandsons.

Mickey Lolich died yesterday, February 4, 2026, at the age of 85, at a care center in the Detroit suburb of Sterling Heights, Michigan.

With his death, there are now 6 surviving players from the 1968 World Champion Detroit Tigers: Willie Horton, Denny McLain, Dick Tracewski, Mickey Stanley, John Hiller and Jon Warden.

February 5, 2006: Last Stop for the Bus

February 5, 2006, 20 years ago: Super Bowl XL is played at Ford Field in Detroit. The Seattle Seahawks were making their 1st appearance, having won the NFC Championship, after having played in the AFC from 1977 (after their 1st season, 1976, in the NFC) to 2001. They were coached by Mike Holmgren, who had coached the Green Bay Packers to victory in Super Bowl XXXI.

The Pittsburgh Steelers were making their 6th appearance. They had won their 1st 4, but had won their last in 1980, and thus sought "One for the Thumb In '81," but couldn't get it. They lost their most recent appearance, in 1996.

Head coach Bill Cowher had Ben Roethlisberger at quarterback. "Big Ben" had faced controversy over his treatment of women. Among his blockers was future Hall of Fame guard Alan Faneca. And a new edition of the "Steel Curtain" defense included linebackers James Farrior and Joey Porter, and future Hall of Fame safety Troy Polamalu.

But the leading figure on the team was running back Jerome Bettis. "The Bus" was retiring after 13,662 rushing yards, 200 receptions for 1,449 yards, and 94 total touchdowns. And he was playing his last game in his hometown of Detroit.

The Seahawks scored first, on a field goal by Josh Brown. They thought they had a touchdown on a 16-yard pass from Matt Hasselback to Darrell Jackson. But the officials called a penalty on Jackson for offensive pass interference, nullifying the score. The Seahawks and their fans were furious with this call, but replays showed it was correct.

The only score in the 2nd quarter was a 1-yard run by Roehtlisberger, and it was 7-3 Steelers at the half. Early in the 2nd half, Willie Parker broke off a 75-yard touchdown run to put the Steelers up 14-3. Hasselback threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Jerramy Stevens, and the 3rd quarter ended with Seattle down just 14-10.

In the 4th quarter, Seattle right tackle Sean Locklear was called for holding Steelers linebacker Clark Haggans, nullifying a deep pass that would have put the Hawks in position to take the lead. Seattle and their fans were furious with this call as well, but, again, the replay proved the call to be correct. Also disputed was a penalty called on Hasselbeck for an illegal block below the waist, while making a tackle during Ike Taylor's interception return.

With 8:56 left in the game, the Steelers tried some trickery: A reverse got the ball to receiver Antwaan Randle El, who had been a quarterback at Indiana University. He threw an option pass to Hines Ward, who took it 43 yards for a touchdown. It was the 1st touchdown pass by a receiver in a Super Bowl, and it made the score 21-10 Pittsburgh. That score held, as good clock management on offense and strong defense got the Steelers their "One for the Thumb."

The retiring Bettis rushed 14 times for 43 yards. He did not score a touchdown, but he converted a key first down, and allowed his team to run time off the clock late in the 4th quarter.

The Seahawks had more 1st downs, 20-14; more net yards, 396-339; fewer turnovers, 2-1; and more time of possession, 33:02-26:58. It was argued that the difference was penalties: The Hawks were penalized 7 times for 70 yards; the Steelers, 3 times for 20 yards.

But there were also 2 questionable calls that hurt the Steelers, and these were equally justified by instant replay. It wasn't the officials that cost the Seahawks the game: It was the Steelers getting the job done that did that.

The Steelers won a 6th Super Bowl 3 years later. The Seahawks finally won their 1st Super Bowl in 2014. 

February 2, 1936: The 1st Baseball Hall of Fame Election

Top left: Christy Mathewson. Top right: Honus Wagner.

Center: Ty Cobb.

Bottom left: Babe Ruth. Bottom right: Walter Johnson.

February 2, 1936, 90 years ago: The Baseball Hall of Fame holds its 1st election for players.

Members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) were given authority to select individuals from the 20th Century; while a special Veterans Committee, made up of individuals with greater familiarity with the 19th Century game, was polled to select deserving individuals from that era. The intent was for 15 honorees to be selected before the ceremony that would open the Hall's Museum in 1939: 10 from the 20th Century and 5 from the 19th; and that additional players from both eras would be selected in later years.

The Voters were given free rein to decide for themselves in which group a candidate belonged, with neither group knowing the outcome of the other election; some candidates had their vote split between the elections as a result: Cy Young, the pitcher with most wins in Major League history, finished 8th in the BBWAA vote, and 4th in the Veterans vote.

In addition, there was no prohibition on voting for active players, a number of whom received votes. Individuals who had been banned from baseball, such as "Shoeless" Joe Jackson and Hal Chase, were also not formally excluded, though few voters chose to include them on ballots.

In the BBWAA election, voters were instructed to cast votes for 10 candidates, the same number of desired selections. In the Veterans' election, voters were also instructed to vote for 10, although the desire for only 5 initial selections led to revisions in the way the votes were counted. Any candidate receiving votes on at least 75 percent of the ballots in either election would be honored with induction to the Hall upon its opening in the sport's supposed centennial year of 1939.

A total of 226 ballots were cast, with 2,231 individual votes for 47 specific candidates, an average of 9.87 per ballot. 170 votes were required for election.

Player	Votes	Percent
Ty Cobb	222	98.2
Babe Ruth	215	95.1
Honus Wagner	215	95.1
Christy Mathewson	205	90.7
Walter Johnson	189	83.6
Nap Lajoie	146	64.6
Tris Speaker	133	58.8
Cy Young	111	49.1
Rogers Hornsby	105	46.4
Mickey Cochrane	80	35.3
George Sisler	77	34.0
Eddie Collins	60	26.5
Jimmy Collins	58	25.6
Grover Cleveland Alexander	55	24.3
Lou Gehrig	51	22.5
Roger Bresnahan	47	20.7
Willie Keeler	40	17.6
Rube Waddell	33	14.6
Jimmie Foxx	21	9.2
Ed Walsh	20	8.8
Ed Delahanty	17	7.5
Pie Traynor	16	7.1
Frankie Frisch	14	6.1
Lefty Grove	12	5.3
Hal Chase	11	4.8
Ross Youngs	10	4.4
Bill Terry	9	3.9
Johnny Kling	8	3.5
Lou Criger	7	3.1
Mordecai Brown	6	2.6
Johnny Evers	6	2.6
Frank Chance	5	2.2
John McGraw	4	1.7
Ray Schalk	4	1.7
Al Simmons	4	1.7
Chief Bender	2	0.8
Joe Jackson	2	0.8
Edd Roush	2	0.8
Frank Baker	1	0.4
Bill Bradley	1	0.4
Fred Clarke	1	0.4
Sam Crawford	1	0.4
Kid Elberfeld	1	0.4
Connie Mack	1	0.4
Rube Marquard	1	0.4
Nap Rucker	1	0.4
Dazzy Vance	1	0.4
Charlie Gehringer	0	0
Gabby Hartnett	0	0
Billy Sullivan	0	0

Note: All players whose names are in italics here have since been elected. Eddie Collins and Jimmy Collins were not related, but they were teammates, on the 1907 and 1908 Philadelphia Athletics, at the end of Jimmy's playing career and near the beginning of Eddie's.

Still active at the time of the vote: Hornsby, Cochrane, Gehrig, Foxx, Traynor, Frisch, Grove, Simmons, Gehringer and Hartnett. Ruth had played his last game only 8 months earlier.

The Hall would eventually ban from its balloting all players declared ineligible by Major League Baseball, so, as of February 2, 2022, Chase and Jackson have never been elected. Nor have, from this list, Kling, Criger, Bradley, Elberfeld and Rucker. None of those have many advocates at this point. 

Cobb finished 1st in the voting. This made him, unofficially, not just in baseball, but the 1st member of any major sport's Hall of Fame. As time passed, however, despite neither man playing a game in the interim -- Ruth was the most recently-retired of the 5, having played his last game on May 30, 1935 -- Ruth came to surpass Cobb in fans' minds as the greatest player in the history of the sport.

Brief profiles:

* Tyrus Raymond Cobb, born on December 18, 1886 in Narrows, Georgia, and grew up in Royston, Georgia. Nicknamed "The Georgia Peach."

Center field, Detroit Tigers, 1905-26; Philadelphia Athletics, 1927-28. .366 lifetime batting average, still an all-time record. 4,189 hits, formerly a record, still 2nd all-time. 892 stolen bases, formerly a record. 168 OPS+. (His hit total had long been listed as 4,191, and thus his batting average at .367, but a later check of records showed that 1 game, and thus 2 of his hits, had mistakenly been counted twice.)

This photo is colorized, but real.

* George Herman Ruth Jr., born on February 6, 1895 in Baltimore, Maryland, and grew up there. Nicknamed "Babe" because his teammates, referring to the scout who signed him, called him "Jack Dunn's Baby." Also known as "The Great Bambino," "The Sultan of Swat," and a lot of similar hard-hitting royal nicknames.

Boston Red Sox, 1914-19; New York Yankees, 1920-34; Boston Braves, 1935. As a pitcher, most of it from 1914 to 1918: 94-46 record, 2.28 ERA, 122 ERA+, 1.159 WHIP, so he was on his way to a Hall of Fame level at that before his hitting meant that he had to be was switched to an everyday player. As an offensive player, mostly from 1918 onward: .342 batting average. 714 home runs, formerly a record. 2,214 RBIs, formerly a record. .474 on-base percentage, 2nd all-time. .690 slugging percentage, still a record. 206 OPS+, still a record. 

The Yankees did not put the interlocking N-Y logo

on their jerseys permanently until 1936,

so Ruth never wore such a jersey.

* John Peter Wagner, born February 24, 1874 in Carnegie, Pennsylvania, outside Pittsburgh. Being of German descent, he was called the German variation of John, "Hans," which became "Honus." Known for his speed as "The Flying Dutchman," keeping in mind that "Dutch" was a name given to people of German descent, as well as to people descended from the Netherlands.

Shortstop, Louisville Colonels, 1897-99; Pittsburgh Pirates, 1900-17. .328 batting average. 3,420 hits, the record until surpassed by Cobb. 723 stolen bases. Considered the best defensive player of his era. 151 OPS+.

* Christopher Mathewson, born August 12, 1880 in Factoryville, in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania. Nicknamed "Christy," "Matty" and "Big Six," because he was 6 feet tall, at a time when that was considered big. Pitcher, New York Giants, 1900-16, concluding that last year with the Cincinnati Reds. 373-188, 2.13 ERA, 136 ERA+, 1.058 WHIP.

Colorized, but definitely a photo, not a painting.

* Walter Perry Johnson, born November 6, 1887 in Humboldt, Kansas, and grew up in Fullerton, California, outside Los Angeles. Nicknamed "The Big Train" early in his career, and "Old Barney" in his later years. Pitcher, Washington Senators, 1907-27. 417-279, 2.17 ERA, 147 ERA+ 1.061 WHIP.

These men became known as "The First Five," or "The First Class." Their plaques are located in an X pattern, with leading vote-getter Cobb's in the middle, at the center of the back wall of the Hall's Gallery.

Cobb was infamous for being difficult to get along with, including with Ruth, but the men eventually put aside their personal and, in terms of baseball playing, stylistic rivalry, and formed a friendship. Cobb had no problem getting along with the others, nor did any of them with each other.

Cobb visiting with Mathewson, 1911 World Series

In 1999, The Sporting News named its 100 Greatest Baseball Players. Ruth had last played 64 years earlier; Cobb, 71; Johnson, 72; Wagner, 82; Mathewson, 83. The number of people who could accurately remember watching them play was already pretty small. The rankings: Ruth came in 1st, Cobb 3rd, Johnson 4th, Mathewson 7th, Wagner 13th. (In between: Willie Mays was 2nd, Hank Aaron 5th, Lou Gehrig 6th, Ted Williams 8th, Hornsby 9th, Stan Musial 10th, Joe DiMaggio 11th, and Alexander 12th.)

In 2022, ESPN listed their Top 100. Ruth's last game was now further back that Mathewson's was in the earlier vote. Ruth came in 1st again, with David Schoenfeld writing for their article, "The baseball we watch today is Babe Ruth's game. Many players make an impact, a few become folk heroes, but nobody changed a sport like Ruth did when he joined the Yankees and transformed baseball into a game of power."

Cobb came in 4th, Johnson 9th, Wagner 12th, Mathewson 25th. (In between: Mays 2nd, Aaron 3rd, Williams 5th, Gehrig 6th, Mickey Mantle 7th, Barry Bonds a steroid-aided 8th, Musial 10th, Pedro Martinez a stupid 11th, Ken Griffey Jr. 13th, Greg Maddux 14th, Mike Trout a laughable 15th, DiMaggio 16th, Roger Clemens 17th, Mike Schmidt 18th, Frank Robinson 19th, Hornsby 20th, Young 21st, Tom Seaver 22nd, Rickey Henderson 23rd, and Randy Johnson -- no relation to Walter, although nearly as fast -- 24th.)

Lajoie, Speaker and Young were elected to the Hall of Fame in its 2nd election, in 1937; Alexander in 1938; Anson, Eddie Collins, Ewing, Keeler, Radbourn, Sisler and, in a special election due to his fatal illness, Gehrig, in 1939.

In addition, elected as managers were Connie Mack and John McGraw in 1937; elected as executives or "pioneers" were Morgan Bulkeley, Ban Johnson and George Wright in 1937; Alexander Cartwright and Henry Chadwick in 1938; and Charles Comiskey, Candy Cummings and Al Spalding in 1939.

So there were 25 inductees when the Hall had its opening ceremony in Cooperstown, New York, already known not to really be the sport's birthplace, on June 12, 1939. There were 11 still alive: Cobb, Ruth, Wagner, Johnson, Lajoie, Speaker, Young, Alexander, Eddie Collins, Sisler and Mack. Transportation links being what they were at the time, Cobb had difficulty getting there, and arrived just too late to appear in the photograph taken of the other 10.

Cobb did turn out to be the last survivor of the First Five, living until 1961. Mathewson had died in 1925, well before the vote; Johnson in 1946, and Ruth in 1948; both too young and from cancer; and Wagner in 1955. Sisler was the last of the Initial Inductees, living until 1973.

February 2, 1876: The Founding of the National League

February 2, 1876, 150 years ago: The National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs is founded. At some point, "baseball" began to be widely spelled as one word instead of two, and the name was officially changed to "The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs."

That name officially remains. But, from the start, pretty much everybody interested in baseball has called it simply "The National League," or "The NL" for short. When the American League was founded in 1901, baseball fans started calling that "The Junior Circuit," and the older NL "The Senior Circuit."

The National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (NA) was founded in 1871, as baseball's 1st professional league. But it was loaded with problems. Scheduling was an issue. Gambling was an issue. Teams starting and folding, and even moving in mid-season, was an issue. And, following the Philadelphia Athletics winning the 1871 Pennant, the Boston Red Stockings, 4 of whom had been the mighty Cincinnati Red Stockings of 1869-70, winning the next 4 Pennants, by ever-increasing margins, was an issue.

Then there was the Davy Force controversy. After the 1874 season, Force, a 25-year-old infielder, signed with both his 1874 team, the Chicago White Stockings, and the Athletics. It was relatively common that players signed two contracts. A league judiciary committee awarded Force to the White Stockings, because he had signed that contract first. That was the way it was usually done: Figure out who had signed the player first, and send him there, and that was that.

However, Charles Spering, president of the Athletics, became president of the NA, and he ruled that Force belonged to the Athletics. The reversal, a clear conflict of interest, contributed to the motivation to organize a new league led by William Hulbert, a Chicago-based coal magnate, and president of the Chicago White Stockings.

In 1875, the Red Stockings went 71-8, winning the Pennant by 15 games. And 6 teams, including the venerable Brooklyn Atlantics, who never quite made the adjustment to the professional game, dropped out of the NA before completing their schedule.

On October 24, an editorial in the Chicago Tribune called for the formation of an organization of major professional teams, with these members: Chicago‚ Cincinnati‚ Louisville‚ Philadelphia‚ New York‚ Boston‚ and Hartford: "Unless the present Professional Association leadership adopts rules to limit the number of teams allowed to participate in the Championship season‚ all clubs will go broke."

Most likely, this editorial was written by Hulbert. Although he was born in Burlington Flats, New York, just 16 miles from the eventual location of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, Hulbert lived most of his life in Chicago, and said, "I'd rather be a lamppost in Chicago than a millionaire in any other city."

William Hulbert

Also on this day, in Chicago, he met with the Red Stockings' ace pitcher, Illinois native Al Spalding. Hulbert stressed to Spalding that his roots were in Illinois, so he should play for the Chicago club. He also stressed to Spalding that, under the current conditions, the NA is going to result in all teams going broke. Hulbert said there must be tighter control, that teams must stick to their schedules and not leave opponents in the lurch, and that gambling must be driven out of the game.

Spalding, already of a business mind, and about to found the sporting goods company that still bears his name, agreed on all counts, and signed with the White Stockings for the 1876 season. He was at the top of his game that season, going 47-12, but was already more interested in running the ballclub and the sporting goods company, and only appeared in 61 more games, only 27 at the time of his last game in 1878. Not until Sandy Koufax, nearly 90 years later, would so great a player quit so early in his career.

The following winter, on February 2, 1876, Hulbert gathered some other team owners at the Grand Central Hotel in New York, and founded the National League, with these teams, running from east to west: The Boston Red Stockings, the Hartford Dark Blues, the New York Mutuals, the Philadelphia Athletics, the Cincinnati Reds, the Louisville Grays, the Chicago White Stockings and the St. Louis Brown Stockings. The Cincinnati and Louisville franchises were new, while the others were admitted from the NA.

Late in that first season of 1876, the Mutuals and the Athletics fell behind in the standings, and refused to make their respective last Western roadtrips, preferring to play home games against local non-league competition, to recoup some of their financial losses, rather than travel extensively and incur more costs. 

Hulbert reacted to the clubs' defiance by expelling them, an act which not only shocked baseball followers -- New York and Philadelphia were the two most populous cities in the country, and in the League -- but made it clear to the remaining clubs that League scheduling commitments, a cornerstone of competitive integrity, were not to be ignored.

Both literally and figuratively, Hulbert meant business, and the rest of the teams got the message: If he was willing to sacrifice New York and Philadelphia in the name of integrity, then they'd better toe the line.

But, despite now being in by far the biggest city in the new League, Hulbert's White Stockings did not dominate it. They did win the 1st Pennant in 1876, but Boston took the next 2. The White Stockings would win 5 Pennants in 7 seasons from 1880 to 1886, but then didn't win again for another 20 years.

The NL's membership changed dramatically: Of the 8 teams that played the 1882 season, the start of which included Hulbert's death, from a heart attack at only 49 years old, only 2 are still in business today, only 1 in the same city, and it does not have the same name. Hulbert's White Stockings, founded in 1870, were owned by Spalding after Hulbert's death. Spalding sold them in 1902, and they became the Chicago Cubs in 1903. The Boston Red Stockings, founded in 1871, went through a few name changes, before settling in 1912 as the Boston Braves. They moved to Milwaukee in 1953, and to Atlanta in 1966.

But 1882 would see the foundation of the 1st league to seriously challenge the NL: The American Association. From this league would come teams that would later join the NL: The Cincinnati Reds, the Brooklyn Grays, the Pittsburgh Alleghenys and the St. Louis Brown Stockings.

The Reds were the AA's founding team, and, unlike the Braves, are not connected to baseball's 1st openly professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings of 1869 and 1870. The Grays went through some name changes before settling on "Dodgers" in 1911. They hired Wilbert Robinson as manager in 1914, and were known as the Brooklyn Robins, but most people still called them the Dodgers, and the old name was officially brought back after Robinson was fired in 1931. They moved to Los Angeles after the 1957 season.

An underhanded transaction in 1890 led to the Pittsburgh team being nicknamed the Pirates, and they officially adopted that name for the 1891 season. The Brown Stockings, or Browns, became the Cardinals in 1900.

The 1883 season would see the NL's Troy Trojans move to New York, where they became the Gothams and, in 1885, the New York Giants, moving to San Francisco after the 1957 season; and the foundation of a new team, the Philadelphia Quakers, who were renamed the Phillies in 1890.

The AA challenged the NL from 1882 to 1891. The Union Association tried to be a 3rd major league, but lasted just 1 season, 1884. The Players' League challenge of 1890 hurt the NL, and crippled the AA, resulting in consolidation into one National League of 12 teams for 1892. But 4 NL teams were dropped after the 1899 season: The Baltimore Orioles, the Cleveland Spiders, the Louisville Colonels and the Washington Senators.

That gave the American League a chance, and it got underway in 1901. Over time, 7 different AL teams would use names, or variations thereon, formerly used by teams in the NL or the AA: The Baltimore Orioles, the Boston Red Sox, the Chicago White Sox, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Philadelphia Athletics, the St. Louis Browns (who later became a different Baltimore Orioles) and the Washington Senators.

Of the 8 original NL cities, only Hartford and Louisville have not had major league teams since 1900. Both are now considered too small for it, although Louisville has been one of the more successful cities in Class AAA, one level below the major leagues.

The National League now consists of:

* Eastern Division: Atlanta Braves (Boston 1871-1952, Milwaukee 1953-1965), Miami Marlins (Florida Marlins 1993-2011), New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Washington Nationals (Montreal Expos 1969-2004).

* Central Division: Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Milwaukee Brewers (Seattle Pilots 1969, American League 1969-1997), Pittsburgh Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals.

* Western Division: Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies, Los Angeles Dodgers (Brooklyn 1883-1957), San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants (New York 1883-1957).

Pennants Won, as NL members only:

1. Dodgers, 26: 1890, 1899, 1900, 1916, 1920, 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1959, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1974, 1977, 1978, 1981, 1988, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2024, 2025. Plus, in the American Association in 1889.

2. Giants, 23: 1888, 1889, 1904, 1905, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1917, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1933, 1936, 1937, 1951, 1954, 1962, 1989, 2002, 2010, 2012, 2014.

3. Cardinals, 19: 1926, 1928, 1930, 1931, 1934, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1946, 1964, 1967, 1968, 1982, 1985, 1987, 2004, 2006, 2011, 2013. Plus, in the AA in 1885, 1886, 1887 and 1888.

4. Braves, 18: 1877, 1878, 1883, 1891, 1892, 1893, 1897, 1898, 1914, 1948, 1957, 1958, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2021. Plus, in the National Association in 1872, 1873, 1874 and 1875.

5. Cubs, 17: 1876, 1880, 1881, 1882, 1885, 1886, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1910, 1918, 1929, 1932, 1935, 1938, 1945, 2016.

6. Reds, 9: 1919, 1939, 1940, 1961, 1970, 1972, 1975, 1976, 1990. Plus, in the AA in 1882.

7. Pirates, 9: 1901, 1902, 1903, 1909, 1925, 1927, 1960, 1971, 1979.

8. Phillies, 8: 1915, 1950, 1980, 1983, 1993, 2008, 2009, 2022.

9. Mets, 5: 1969, 1973, 1986, 2000, 2015.

10. Diamondbacks, 2: 2001, 2023.

11. Marlins, 2: 1997, 2003.

12. Padres, 2: 1984, 1998.

13. Nationals, 1: 2019.

14. Rockies, 1: 2007.

15. Brewers, none: Won AL Pennant in 1982.

The Grand Central Hotel was at 673 Broadway, at 3rd Street in Greenwich Village. It opened in 1870, and was advertised as the largest hotel in America. Crooked financier Jim Fisk was murdered there in 1872.

By August 3, 1973, it was a welfare hotel. On that date, part of the building collapsed, killing 4 people. New York University built a dormitory on the site. A plaque honoring the NL's founding is on the Broadway side.

January 31, 1936: "The Green Hornet" Debuts

Gordon Jones in the 1940 serial

January 31, 1936, 90 years ago: The Green Hornet debuts on Detroit radio station WXYZ, 1270 on the AM dial, created by station owner George W. Trendle and writer Fran Striker.

The Green Hornet was Britt Reid, the wealthy publisher of a newspaper, The Daily Sentinel, who saw a crime wave in his city, and decided that what was needed was "a modern-day Robin Hood," so he took on the masked persona and pretended to be a competing gangster, muscling in on bad guys' territory, and setting them up to be captured by the cops.

He was assisted by Kato, an Asian mechanical genius, who designed and built the character's knockout-gas gun, and turned Britt's car into the souped-up "Black Beauty." Originally, Kato was said to be Japanese. But by the time of the 1st film serial in 1940, the Japanese were committing war crimes against China, so the character was rewritten as Korean. Although a capable fighter, his only use of martial arts, in either of the film serials, was the occasional judo chop.

On radio, the Hornet was played by Al Hodge from 1936 to 1945. He would later star as the early science fiction TV hero Captain Video. Bob Hall took over the role in 1945, and Jack McCarthy was the last in the role, from 1947 to 1952. Kato was played by Raymond Toyo, and later by Rollon Parker. For the entire run, it was directed by James Jewell, and his sister, Leonore Jewell Allman, played Lenore Case, Britt's secretary, who occasionally had to be rescued by the Green Hornet, and finally discovered his secret identity in 1948.

In 1947, Britt revealed his identity to the Daily Sentinel's actual owner, his father, Dan Reid Jr. The father had his own revelation, that Britt was not the first fighter for justice in the family: Dan is the son of Dan Reid, a Texas Ranger who was martyred, and whose brother fought criminals in the Wild West as the Lone Ranger. The Reid family fortune came from the silver mine that also supplied the Ranger's bullets.

The radio show could legally do this, because Trendle and Striker had created the Lone Ranger 3 years earlier, and his show was still running, with WXYZ as its flagship station. Every subsequent version of the Hornet has added a generation, but he's still descended from the Lone Ranger's martyred brother.

Two film serials were produced: The Green Hornet in 1940, with Gordon Jones in the title role; and The Green Hornet Strikes Again! in 1941, with Warren Hull starring. Both were directed by Ford Beebe. In both versions, Kato was played by Keye Luke, who had already become famous playing Lee Chan, the "number one son" in the Charlie Chan films.

Anne Nagel played Lenore Case, who supported the Hornet; and Wade Boteler played Mike Axford, the paper's leading reporter, who opposed the Hornet, seeing only the criminal side of him, not the "Robin Hood" side. Neither discovered his true identity over the length of the serials.

In 1966, William Dozier, creator and producer of the Batman TV series, wanted to try another superhero show. For his version of The Green Hornet, he cast former Surfside Six star Van Williams as Reid, who was made a rich man of his time: A swinging playboy who, in addition to his newspaper, also ran a TV station, known as Daily Sentinel TV. It used the initials DSTV, so that it couldn't be pinned down to a single city, and thus not have to start with a W (indicating that it was in the Eastern U.S.) or a K (the West). Nor was a channel number ever mentioned.

Hong Kong-based actor and martial arts expert Bruce Lee was cast as Kato -- allegedly, because he was the only Asian-American actor that Dozier could find who could properly pronounce the name "Britt Reid." The character was every bit the genius as before, adding to the hero's arsenal a "Hornet Sting": A device that looked like a walking stick, and used sound waves as a weapon.

Van Williams (left) and Bruce Lee.
Kato never got a "superhero name."

To match Lee, his ethnicity was changed to Chinese, and one episode, "The Praying Mantis," included the Hornet and Kato taking on the unnamed city's Chinese gangs, or "tongs," as a friend of Kato's was the son of a tong leader who was trying to take his group legitimate, and their rivals didn't want them to "go straight."

Aside from Kato, 2 characters knew Britt's secret identity from the beginning. Wende Wagner played Lenore Case, or "Casey." And while Batman had the city's police commissioner as his establishment ally (but not knowing his secret identity), Dozier didn't want the Hornet's ally to have the exact same job, so Walter Brooke was cast as the District Attorney, Frank Scanlon, who did know.

Lloyd Gough played Mike Axford, the Daily Sentinel’s crime reporter, said to be an old friend of Britt's father, the Sentinel's previous publisher. Gough played down Axford's previously-established stereotypical Irish accent and well-meaning bumbling, but kept the character's clueless hatred of the Hornet, and the pride of an aging crimebuster who occasionally got in over his head while pursuing a story, and had to be reluctantly (on his part) rescued by the Hornet.

A key difference this time is that Britt's father, seen only in a portrait in his office, is dead. The episode "The Frog Is a Deadly Weapon" mentions that he had been framed for murder, though it is left ambiguous as to whether he was convicted and died in prison, or acquitted and then the stress of the experience killed him. What is clear is that he was set up by a gangster that the elder Reid was pursuing, Glenn Connors, played by Victor Jory. Finally given the chance to do so, the Hornet defeated him in the episode.

Unlike with Batman, Dozier did not narrate the show, but he did narrate its opening, which sounds like a holdover from the days of radio:

Another challenge for the Green Hornet, his aide Kato, and their rolling arsenal, the Black Beauty. On police records a wanted criminal, the Green Hornet is really Britt Reid, owner-publisher of the Daily Sentinel. His dual identity is known only to his secretary, and to the District Attorney. And now, to protect the rights and lives of decent citizens, rides The Green Hornet!

Just as The Lone Ranger kept Giacomo Rossini's William Tell Overture as its theme song when making the transition from radio to TV, The Green Hornet had a familiar classical piece as a theme: Flight of the Bumblebee, composed in 1900 by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, played by the great jazz trumpeter Al Hirt, while Lionel Newman conducted the orchestra in an arrangement by Billy May, who was responsible for the arrangements in some of Frank Sinatra's best work.

Van Williams said he wouldn't have done the series if it was going to be as campy as Batman. At first, it wasn't. But the ratings were never good. A crossover with Batman, "A Piece of the Action" and "Batman's Satisfaction," aired, establishing that Bruce Wayne and Britt Reid were rivals.

A fight between Batman and the Green Hornet, and between Robin and Kato, ended in a draw as the police came in. Lee insisted: He was willing to lose a fight to Batman, since it was his show; but his pride was such that he refused to lose a fight to Robin, a character then seen widely as a joke. (This was long before, in the comics, Dick Grayson, the original Robin, became Nightwing and the leader of the Teen Titans, and became regarded as a character who, while keeping his sense of humor and sunny attitude, could be taken much more seriously.)

The crossover didn't help the ratings, and the show was canceled after 1 season. Lee wrote Dozier a letter thanking him for "my start in show business."

The Green Hornet appeared in a few comic books, including one showing the nephew of the '66 Britt Reid and the niece of the '66 Kato fighting crime together, with Diana Reid, daughter of Britt and Casey (and thus the 1st cousin of this younger Britt), filling in for the deceased Scanlon as D.A.

In 2010, Seth Rogen made a Green Hornet film, playing the starring role as a ridiculous playboy who, unlike previous editions of the character, was a wasted disappointment to his father, but nevertheless enlists the help of Kato, played by Jay Chou, to avenge him after his murder by a Russian gangster, played by Christoph Waltz with his usual bad-guy scenery-chewing. Cameron Diaz played Lenore Case. Michel Gondry directed. The film flopped: It infuriated the character's existing fans (myself included), and didn't add many new ones. 

Also in 2010, filmmaker Kevin Smith, long with an interest in superheroes and comic books, began writing a series for the Green Hornet, which still runs, set in the present day, with a female Kato. In July 2020, he announced plans to develop a Green Hornet animated TV series, based on his series. 

In 2022, it was announced that Leigh Whannell, the Australian filmmaker who co-created the Saw franchise, would direct a reboot film. In 2023, it was reported that Chris Pine would play the Hornet. As of January 31, 2026, the 90th anniversary of the premiere of the radio series, both the film reboot and the animated TV series remain in limbo.

In 1978, WXYZ, the station where the Green Hornet and the Lone Ranger debuted, switched from music to talk. In 1984, the call letters were changed from the alphabetical closure WXYZ to WXYT, the "T" standing for "Talk." In 2000, it switched to sports/talk, and was rebranded as "The Bet Detroit" in 2021.

Wade Boteler died in 1943, Fran Striker in 1962, Gordon Jones in 1963, Anne Nagel in 1966, Rollon Parker in 1968, George Trendle in 1972, Bruce Lee in 1973, Warren Hull in 1974, James Jewell in 1975, Ford Beebe in 1978, Al Hodge in 1979, Lloyd Gough in 1984, Walter Brooke in 1986, Bob Hall and Leonore Allman in 1989, Keye Luke and William Dozier in 1991, Jack McCarthy in 1996, Wende Wagner in 1997, Al Hirt in 1999, Raymond Toyo in 2000, and Van Williams in 2016.