{"id":1403996,"date":"2026-02-04T12:47:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T17:47:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thenewsherald.com\/?p=1403996&preview=true&preview_id=1403996"},"modified":"2026-02-04T13:50:02","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T18:50:02","slug":"tigers-legend-and-1968-world-series-hero-mickey-lolich-dies-at-85","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thenewsherald.com\/2026\/02\/04\/tigers-legend-and-1968-world-series-hero-mickey-lolich-dies-at-85\/","title":{"rendered":"Tigers legend and 1968 World Series hero Mickey Lolich dies at 85"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the aces of the Detroit Tigers\u2019 mid-century glory days and hero of the 1968 World Series champion, Mickey Lolich, has died at age 85, the Tigers announced Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Later in life, he lived in Washington Twp., and owned a donut shop in Oakland County \u2014 originally in Rochester and moved to Lake Orion in 1983 \u2014 since his retirement from baseball in 1979.<\/p>\n

Signed by the Tigers in 1958, Lolich started 496 of his 586 career games over a 16-year Major League Baseball career, with 508 of those games coming with the Tigers between 1963 and 1975.<\/p>\n

At the time of his retirement in 1979 \u2014\u00a0after two seasons with the Padres \u2014 Lolich\u2019s 2,832 strikeouts were an MLB record for a left-handed pitcher, but that mark has been surpassed by four pitchers since: Hall of Famers Steve Carlton, Randy Johnson and CC Sabathia, and soon-to-be Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw.<\/p>\n

Lolich held the Tigers franchise\u2019s single-game strikeout record (16, twice) until it was broken by Anibal Sanchez (17) in 2013.<\/p>\n

At the anniversary celebration of the 1968 World Series win in 2013, Lolich recalled tuning in to the game the night his record was broken.<\/p>\n