Mickey Lolich Has Passed Away…
mintonlypls
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1968 World Series MVP, Mickey Lolich, has passed away at 85. He is the last pitcher to win three (3) complete game victories in a World Series. That will not happen today with pitch counts. He won a complete game victory on two (2) days rest in game #7…
St Louis was up 3 games to 1 game…but the Tigers won three straight to take the World Series title.
Dennis McClain, the last 30-game winner, (another milestone unachievable with pitch counts) was 31-6….in 1968.
mint_only_pls
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RIP Mickey. I always thought that he belonged in the HOF. He was the all-time lefty strikeout leader at the time of his retirement.
buying O-Pee-Chee (OPC) baseball cards
also collecting US & Canadian silver coins
I remember watching this series on TV… what a great series. Lolich and Gibson were both amazing in the series.
RIP
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
Bob Gibson in game #1 of the 1968 World Series broke Koufax KK (15) record in game #1 of the 1963 World Series by striking out 18. There is a 1969 baseball card highlighting this feat by Gibson in the 1968 World Series.
One of the most fun WS I ever saw! Lolich won 3 complete games - you might find it hard to get 3 complete games in a season out of a pitcher! And MVP - but a pitcher hitting a round tripper?
I remember a reporter talking to Mickey alluding to his weight and he said - "I don't pitch with my stomach" At least that's what I remember?
I recognized McLain #17 in the dugout along with #26 chubby Gates Brown who had a .370 batting average predominantly as a PH in 1968.
I remember some quirky stats because I played a dice baseball board game growing up with player cards. The board game was Strat-O-Matic out of Great Neck, NY. The cards gave player stats like AB HRs Ave. for hitters…and W -L records ERA HRs allowed for pitchers. I recall that McLain gave up quite a few HRs in 1968…but those must have been quite a few solo HRs.
That's some fun memories Monte. That game competed with APBA and All-Star BB by Cadaco-Ellis.
SOM, APBA and AS BB were the top 3 sim games for kids in the day even tho I have many other games that were played by kids.
Milton Bradley's 1969 inaugural release of "Official Baseball Game" had it's popularity based on the cards with player portraits - while not stunning, there is a group of collectors who do the set and I believe on the Registry.
I believe I'm the only baseball board game collector on this forum to the best of my knowledge?
RIP, Mickey. He'd been in poor health for some time.
You probably have many more than I do, but I got a few. I have my APBA collection stored deep in the pile here somewhere. My uncle and I used to play regularly, we even created a league and devised All-Star teams to compete. Lolich was the story in '68, but of course McLain had better stats. I hoarded team sets for awhile when card collecting really took off and they became available on eBay. We have other games too, the stuff we found at garage sales or wherever. I wish I had more storage space, there's never enough room to keep all of it.
Unfortunately, I sold my Strat-O-Matic baseball and football board games back in the late 1980s with playing cards from 1964 stat year to 1971 stat year for ~$400. It was a lot of fun playing these games! I introduced several neighborhood and school friends to Strat-O-Matic...
Great point.
That's the challenge for any board game collector - I have over 200 board games.
Without wearing you out - here's one of my top games - out of the 16 photos - 11 are HOF'ers to include the Wagner - same photo by Horner on the T206.
Verry cool, Mike!
Thanx Monte.
Still play in a league that formed in 1985, same folks. We used to do face-to-face rolling dice in college, but moved to online using strat app (head to head Zoom mtgs for games) in early 2000s to play now-a-days. Commish just ordered the cards for this season which will be starting soon. We play a mixed roster of Immortals (=retired players, any year available staring 1871 but can only field 11 on a 25 man roster) and active players -- 50 man rosters with 1 level of minors. Been a whole lot of fun over the decades! Love Strat and board games.
It's the singer not the song - Peter Townshend (1972)
Not even a minute do I buy the whole buh buh buh I'm a man-child japery - Me (2025)
I met Mickey as a young kid at his donut shop. He was there with the World Series trophy and just meeting and greeting. He was super nice.
All-time leader in Ks by a lefty when he retired, 376 innings in 1971, 3 wins in the '68 Series - and patrolling Detroit neighborhoods for the National Guard after suiting up for the Tigers earlier in the day during the '67 riots. Put him in the Hall!