Rant 2,299: Here Comes the Star

One of the all-time great New York baseball players died yesterday, and let me tell you, a piece of my childhood--and many Baby Boomers' childhoods--went with him.

Mel Stottlemyre, the New York Yankees' best pitcher during the darkest days of the franchise and later, their pitching coach during some the brightest days of the franchise's history, died yesterday after a long illness. He was 77 years old, and let me tell you, he packed a lot into those 77 years.

Coming up to the Yankees as a 23 year old in late 1964, he won nine games during the regular season and helped pitch the Bronx Bombers into what was going to be their final World Series for a dozen years.

He pitched three times in the Series, replacing other pitchers who were injured, and held his own against the Bob Gibson-led St. Louis Cardinals, although the Yankees lost in seven games.

All the injuries the Yankees had were basically a precursor for what was to come.

The team, the most elite professional sports team on the planet, could not replace broken down stars of the past such as Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle, and for the first time in a few generations, the Yankees were a bad team heading into the 1965 season.

But even a bad team has a few stars, and Stottlemyre was one of them.

He ended up pitching 11 seasons for the Yankees, was a five-time All-Star, won 20 or more games three times with poor teams, and yes, he led the league in defeats twice too, once losing 20 games. His career record was 164-139, his career ERA was less than three, and even with a sinkerball that enticed hitters to beat the ball into the ground, he was able to strike out more than 1,200 batters.

He was also a terrific hitter, once going five for five in a game, and hitting seven homers as a pitcher prior to the institution of the designated hitter, including what I believe was the last inside the park grand slam at the old Yankee Stadium.

His career was cut short by a rotator cuff injury, just a few years before Tommy John surgery was perfected.

After taking a few years off to be with his family--he had three sons, two of whom made the major leagues themselves, and one who passed away at a young age from leukemia--he came back as a pitching coach for the Seattle Mariners in 1977, but what was to come would be his most lasting contribution to baseball.

Stottlemyre was the pitching coach for the New York Mets during their high-flying teams in the mid-1980s, nurturing the careers of Sid Fernandez, Ron Darling and Dwight Gooden.

He won his first of five rings as a pitching coach with the championship 1986 team.

He later moved back to the Bronx as pitching coach for the Yankees, and nurtured the careers of Jimmy Key, Orlando Hernandez and Mariano Rivera, and for his efforts, the Yankees won four more World Series during his period there.

He also was pitching coach for the Astros and the Mariners once again, but he will always be remembered for the time as the mentor to some great pitchers in New York.

Joe Torre, the manager of the Yankees during their spectacular run in the 1990s, said that Stottlemyre was the toughest person he ever knew, and this was certainly backed up by the fact that he battled cancer several times during his time as pitching coach, and he managed to win out each time.

In recent times, Stottlemyre had been ill for years with bone marrow cancer, and he came back to Yankee Stadium for an old timers game a few years back. The Yankees, unbeknownst to him, planned to give him a plaque in Monument Park and retire his number, and he was completely taken aback when he learned that he was going to be so honored.

It was the final time he would ever be in Yankee Stadium.

As mentioned earlier, two of his sons had major league careers--Mel Stottlemyre Jr., who pitched briefly in the big leagues but like his father, was and continues to be a long-time pitching coach on this level, now with the Tampa Bay Rays, and Todd, who had a nice career with a few teams, including the Toronto Blue Jays, and who is now a hedge fund owner.

Personally, it was very difficult to root for the Yankees back in those dire years of 1965-1975, when they simply weren't very good.

And what made it worse was that the lowly Mets had become a force, and appeared in two World Series during this span, including the Miracle Mets of 1969.

And living in Queens within earshot of Shea Stadium did not help matters.

But I was a tried and true Yankees fan no matter what, and my idols were the four best players the Yankees had during that poor run--Stottlemyre, Bobby Murcer, Roy White and Fritz Peterson.

Now, Stottlemyre and Murcer are gone, Peterson is battling the early stages of Alzheimer's Disease, and only Roy White remains relatively healthy from that pre-Derek Jeter-led lesser-Core Four.

Yes, we are all getting older, but the memories of those years live on in my head, and will be there forever.

When Stottlemyre pitched, you knew the Yankees at least had a chance to win, and they often did when he was on the mound, in stark contrast to those losing days.

And he was New York baseball, and will forever be associated with the two teams we have in New York.

He will be missed.