RIP Joe Coleman

[papalawrence]

He has a special place in my memory. He pitched at my first Tigers game in 1972. He had a multi year window with electric stuff. I have a gazillion of his baseball cards because of that first game. Sad to hear of his passing. 

Joe Coleman, No. 3 pick in first MLB draft and 1972 AL All-Star, dies - ESPN https://share.google/dUTFW6goR5J7Cjr8Q

[Tiger337]

Coleman was great his first three years with the Tigers.  Too bad Billy Martin blew out his arm.  

[Netnerd]

Sad to hear this. A favorite of mine, too.

[lordstanley]

One of the first Tigers pitchers I remember. 

[lordstanley]

32 minutes ago, papalawrence said:

He has a special place in my memory. He pitched at my first Tigers game in 1972. He had a multi year window with electric stuff. I have a gazillion of his baseball cards because of that first game. Sad to hear of his passing. 

Joe Coleman, No. 3 pick in first MLB draft and 1972 AL All-Star, dies - ESPN https://share.google/dUTFW6goR5J7Cjr8Q

Coleman pitched a complete game 3-hitter in the 2nd Tigers game I ever attended, in August 1974, to beat Vida Blue and the A’s. 
 

https://www.baseball-almanac.com/box-scores/boxscore.php?boxid=197408310DET

[Shinzaki]

Lolich and Coleman were a great 1-2 punch st the top of the rotation 

[holygoat]

The Lolich-Coleman Tigers were the first team I truly have memories of. 

[Tenacious D]

I thought he might have previously passed—I don’t recall hearing anything about him over the last 25 years or so.

[chasfh]

A baseball nepo baby during an era when that was still pretty rare. RIP, Joe Jr.

[chasfh]

I just noticed that Joe Jr. was one of the most recent big leaguers to make his debut as an 18-year-old. Of the 358 big leaguers to play at age 18 or younger, only 16 of them debuted after Joe Jr., and in fact, only one in the past 47 years. Kudos to you if you know who that one is without having to look it up.

[1776]

I didn’t realize that his dad pitched for the Tigers in 1955.

[papalawrence]

1 hour ago, chasfh said:

I just noticed that Joe Jr. was one of the most recent big leaguers to make his debut as an 18-year-old. Of the 358 big leaguers to play at age 18 or younger, only 16 of them debuted after Joe Jr., and in fact, only one in the past 47 years. Kudos to you if you know who that one is without having to look it up.

ARod?

[chasfh]

11 minutes ago, papalawrence said:

ARod?

Kudos!

[lordstanley]

1 hour ago, 1776 said:

I didn’t realize that his dad pitched for the Tigers in 1955.

I learned a few other things too, from Wikipedia.

- When he was having control problems in 1976, he went to a Catholic priest who doubled as a hypnotist and after putting him under several times cured him of his fear of getting fit. The fear had been understandable - Joe had fractured his skull in 1971 after getting hit by a Ted Simmons liner, and was hit by a line drive a dozen times in 1974.

- When with the A's in 1978, Charlie Finley tried to send him to the minors, Vancouver, but he refused to report. Hey!

- He is the father of Casey Coleman who pitched 58 games for the Cubs and Royals in the early 2010s, making them and Joe's dad MLB's first trio of 3-generation pitchers 

- Joe was the pitching coach of the Lakeland Tigers from 2007-2011

And here's Joe pitching a shutout in the '72 ALCS

 

Edited July 10 by lordstanley

[papalawrence]

19 minutes ago, chasfh said:

Kudos!

I was living in Seattle when he was drafted. It was a very big deal there

[SoCalTiger]

I say Joe Coleman pitching in a minor league championship game in Albuquerque   New Mexico at the end of his career by pure chance. Don't remember anything else about that trip or who I was with or what I was doing. Whisky  and Baseball. Hell of a combo.