The baseball season has begun 
and I thought I'd look around for a story on it.
Our Archives have some vintage pix of Wells Fargo teams from earlier days. Way back when, baseball teams were very local. There were town teams, school teams, ethnic teams, company teams and pro teams. Good players moved from team to team and game to game, playing for one team in the morning, another in the afternoon. This tradition still survives, just in a different shape. You'll find school teams, of course, and the Minors are still doing a good business. Local clubs field teams.
"Semi pro" teams were usually sponsored by a local company and competed against others in the area. The best would compete at the end of the year in the National Baseball Congress World Series , which is still around. That sort of semi-pro ball largely disappeared in the last 30 years, but many Big League players made their mark in this local tradition. Wells Fargo had teams, sponsored by local offices, and often took local championships. Sometimes, teams would form just to play each other for pride. Winners got their pictures in the Wells Fargo Messenger.
As I looked up all of this on the web, I chanced across the story of Mickey Lolich , a pretty good pitcher for the Detroit Tigers in the 1960s and 70s. While best known for his three wins in the 1968 World Series , Lolich pitched every four days for years, often throwing a complete game. He struck out 2,832 — third all-time among lefties.
Lolich was a workhorse on the field, but was beloved for his, well, regular guy shape — he looked like your dad out there. He owned a donut shop in the Motor City and retired from baseball to run it. Naturally right-handed, Lolich had injured his right shoulder as a kid (a tricycle accident!) and became a left-handed thrower as a result.
Mickey Lolich is not remembered well enough . His amazing 1971 season was Cy Young Award-worthy, except for the phenomenal year turned in by Vida Blue , who took all the big awards that year. Lolich was almost as effective the next year for the division-winning Tigers, but Gaylord Perry was just a little better and won the award. Lolich will have to console himself with several Tigers pitching records, and the eternal devotion of Tigers fans.
Funny thing is, Lolich's numbers eclipsed another pretty good pitcher for the Tigers: a guy named Hooks Dauss. Hooks pitched during the Ty Cobb years in Detroit, likely why we've never really heard of him. He won over 200 games, pitched a lot of innings, and is 30th all-time for hit batsmen. (FYI, you gotta be a good pitcher to plunk a hitter.)
Hooks Dauss and Mickey Lolich were really good ballplayers, but too few people remember. So I'm doing my part to campaign for them.
There's your baseball piece for the spring, folks.
Baseball! Woo hoo! I hope for your sake (as a Giants fan) that Manny starts being Manny and distracts the Dodgers enough to keep them from winning the NL West. Go Cards!
Giants fan? Me?
MAYBE when I see Barry again, sauntering to the plate, batting 4th, one on in the 6th, Giants down by a run...
Ahhhh...a Barry Bonds apologist. I was a fan until Will Clark left for Texas. That is how I ended up a Cards fan (Lolich's '68 Series victims).
So did Lolich or Hooks ever throw for The Stagecoach?
Sorry, Matt, it's not clear to me how Clark in Texas makes you a Cards fan.
And if you were a Giants fan, you can't possibly like the Cardinals -- the '87 playoffs saw to that!
Yeah, I wasn't clear on that was I. Clark ended his career in St. Louis, that combined with marrying a Cards fan sorta sealed that deal.
I didn't get into baseball until '89, so I didn't have any Series hopes crushed in '87. That of course means that I still will not root for the A's in any way whatsoever.
Good site, admin.
Both Jack and Will Clarks began their careers as Giants and spent time in St. Louis. Both were a terror there.
You picked up Nooshler at a good time in his career.
And the As are great -- unless you're an Angels fan. And even then, you gotta like those kids...
Anonymous --
Thanks, comm'r
I did not realize that a childhood accident prompted Mickey to become a southpaw. I recall Mickey because he batted right (actually both, but mainly right, and for a very modest average in either case) and threw left -- a rare bird in MLB, the most famous of which is Rickey Henderson. Tigers' fans will always remember Mickey for out-dueling the great Bob Gibson in game 7 of the '68 World Series. It was not only Lolich's third Series victory, but also his third complete game in the Series. Truly, he was a horse.
Nice riff, Charles!
Wow Vince -- THAT'S some diamond knowledge. You're a man among men.
Does anyone else recall Lolich's distinct windup and delivery? He' raise his arms high overhead, then sort of squat-n-step. No big kick, just that fluid roll.
He was a real prize. We must never forget!