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.
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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.
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