Mickey Lolich - Baseball

Born in Portland in 1940, Mickey Lolich played his way nearly to the Hall of Fame mostly with the Detroit Tigers, including an MVP performance in the 1968 World Series.

Lolich grew up in Portland and signed with the Detroit Tigers as a left-handed pitcher in the summer of 1958 after graduating from Lincoln High. He spent five seasons in the minors, including three with the Durham, N.C., Bulls, and most of 1962 with the Portland Beavers. The Tigers called him up in May of 1963 and he spent 16 seasons in the big leagues.

After a solid season as a reliever and spot starter in ’63, Lolich moved into Detroit’s starting rotation and started at least 30 games for 13 straight seasons, including 1976 with the New York Mets. In 489 starts during that stretch, he pitched 195 complete games, 41 of which were shutouts.

In 1968, Lolich went 17-9 with a 3.19 ERA, then pitched three complete game wins in the World Series against St. Louis. He won Game 2, Game 5 and Game 7, pitching the decisive game on just two days rest.

Lolich was named to three All-Star teams and finished second in Cy Young voting in 1971 after compiling a 25-14 record and a league-best 308 strikeouts, and third in ’72 following a 22-14 season with a 2.50 ERA that helped the Tigers win the AL East.

After taking the ’77 season off, he finished his career as a reliever with the San Diego Padres in 1978-79. He retired following the ’79 season at age 38.

In his 16 seasons, Lolich went 217-191 and compiled a .344 ERA with 2,832 strikeouts. He retired with 2,679 strikeouts while with the Tigers, a total that left him as the AL’s All-Time leader for strikeouts by a left-hander.

He was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1984.