Mickey Lolich, the last MLB pitcher to throw three complete game World Series victories, dies at 85. He finished his standout MLB career with 2,832 strikeouts.<\/b>
\nThe baseball world is mourning the loss of a player who made history with the Detroit Tigers.
Mickey Lolich, remembered as the Tigers\u2019 hero in the 1968 World Series, has died, the Tigers announced. He was 85. Lolich is the last MLB pitcher to win three games in the World Series. He was named World Series MVP that year.
The Tigers said Lolich\u2019s wife informed the franchise that Lolich was recently in hospice care. The cause of death was not released.
Lolich is No. 23 on the all-time career strikeouts list with 2,832.
Lolich was an unlikely star of the Tigers 1968 title run. During a reunion of the World Series team, he recalled how manager Mayo Smith had sent him to the bullpen for much of August. He returned to the Tigers\u2019 starting rotation and was 6-1 in the final weeks.
\u00ab\u00a0I was having a few problems, but I had been a starting pitcher ever since 1964\u00a0\u00bb, said Lolich, who was upset about the bullpen move. \u00ab\u00a0I remember telling him, \u2018If we win this thing this year, it\u2019s going to be because of me.\u2019 But I was only talking about the season. I wasn\u2019t talking about the World Series.
\u00ab\u00a0I got my revenge back in the World Series.\u00a0\u00bb
Lolich pitched Game 7 after only two days rest. He figured he would get a Corvette from General Motors for being the Series MVP but had to settle for a Dodge Charger GT because Chrysler was the sponsor in 1968.
\u00ab\u00a0Nothing against Chargers, nothing at all\u00a0\u00bb, Lolich said in his book, \u00ab\u00a0Joy in Tigertown.\u00a0\u00bb \u00ab\u00a0It\u2019s just that I already had two of them in my driveway.\u00a0\u00bb
Since Lolich, only two pitchers have won three games in a single World Series \u2014 Arizona\u2019s Randy Johnson in 2001 and Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2025. But they pitched fewer innings and got their third victories in relief.
In a statement, the Tigers expressed condolences to Lolich\u2019s family and said his legacy \u00ab\u00a0will forever be cherished.\u00a0\u00bb
After his baseball career, Lolich went into the doughnut business in the Detroit suburbs, making and selling them for 18 years.<\/p>\n