Our Friday Funday column returns today, with a look at former MLB pitcher Mickey Lolich. He was the unexpected MVP of the 1968 World Series, a seven-game affair between the Detroit Tigers and the defending champion St. Louis Cardinals. In a 16-year career, he posted 217 victories in the regular season, built on a 3.44 ERA and 48.0 WAR overall; he ranks as the 148th-best starting pitching in baseball history.

From 1964 to 1976, Lolich averaged 262 innings pitched per season for the Detroit Tigers (1964-1975) and the New York Mets (1976). No surprise then, at age 36, he decided to sit out a year, and he missed the entire 1977 season before choosing to return and toss 84 innings in 1978 and 1979 for the San Diego Padres—to the tune of a 3.43 ERA, too. He was consistent, in addition to being a three-time All Star (1969, 1971-1972). Nice.

Lolich is not in the Hall of Fame, obviously, and we’re not advocating for that. Yet there are so many pretty good players in the sport’s history who just never got their due, for whatever reason. Lolich is one of them; he only had one full season of negative WAR (1966), when he was in his age-25 season. Otherwise, he was a workhorse, tossing a lot of innings for some successful teams in Detroit. We highlight some moments here:

  • 1967: Led the American League in shutouts (six)
  • 1968: Tossed three complete-game victories in the World Series, allowing just five earned runs
  • 1971: Topped the AL in wins (25), games started (45), complete games (29), IP (376), and Ks (308)
  • 1972: Threw 19 innings in two AL Championship Series starts with a 1.42 ERA in the process

After he faded to just a 28-39 record in 1974-1975 combined, the Tigers traded him the Mets for Rusty Staub. At age 35, he gave his new team a 3.22 ERA in 30 starts, with five complete games and two shutouts before he decided he needed a break. With the Padres, he made spot starts, but he mostly pitched in relief for San Diego, earning the last of his career 10 saves there. His 1.56 ERA in 1978 at age 37 was quite stellar.

Most fans will know him for the 1968 Series, if they remember him at all now. But Lolich was more than that, obviously; he might not have been a superstar, but Detroit made the postseason with him twice in the rotation, and he acquitted himself well in October, overall: 1.57 ERA in 46 IP. We’d be hard pressed to find too many modern-era pitchers with that kind of postseason track record. Lolich really was someone special.

How is this for shiny statistical symmetry? His 41 career shutouts rank 41st all time in MLB history. They all came during that 13-year “peak” from 1964-1976, too, so even though the record shows him with appearances in 16 different seasons, that 13-season stretch was a dominant one: 210 victories, averaging 16 wins a year, for 46.6 WAR. His combined 15.9 WAR in 1971-1972 represent a very strong early 30s presence.

Of course, most of his career came before free agency, so his maximum salary was the $125K he earned with the Mets in 1976. Imaging what kind of money this guy could earn today in the bloated MLB salary structure.