Mickey Lolich

Michael Stephen Lolich (September 12, 1940 – February 4, 2026) was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who played from 1963 until 1979, almost entirely for the Detroit Tigers. A three-time All-Star, he won at least 14 games every year from 1964 through 1974, striking out at least 200 batters seven times. Lolich was named the Most Valuable Player of the 1968 World Series against the defending champion St. Louis Cardinals after earning three complete-game victories, including a 4-1 win over future Hall-of-Famer Bob Gibson in the climactic Game 7. He was runner-up for the 1971 American League (AL) Cy Young Award after leading the league with 25 wins, 308 strikeouts, 29 complete games and 376 innings pitched, also setting team records in strikeouts and with 45 games started, and helped lead the Tigers to a 1972 division title with 22 victories.

By 1975, Lolich ranked fifth in major league history in career strikeouts, though by the time of his retirement in 1979, his final total of 2,832 had slipped to seventh place. He held the major league record for career strikeouts by a left-handed pitcher from 1975 until 1980, when Steve Carlton passed him, and the AL record from 1973 until 2017, when CC Sabathia broke the mark. He holds Tigers franchise records of 2,679 strikeouts, 459 games started and 39 shutouts, and his 207 wins and 3,361+2⁄3 innings pitched for Detroit are franchise records for a left-hander, as were his 508 games pitched until John Hiller passed him in 1979.