Former big league pitcher Joe Coleman has passed away yesterday, according to multiple reports. He was 78 years old.
Coleman was a baseball lifer. His father, also named Joe Coleman, pitched in the majors in the ’40s and ’50s. The younger Coleman was born in 1947 and grew up around the game. “I can remember a time that I sat on Mr. (Connie) Mack’s knee for a picture,” Coleman once said. “After the games I used to run around the infield and slide into every base.”
By the mid-’60s, Coleman was pitching in high school. The very first Major League Baseball draft was held in 1965 and Coleman went third overall. The Athletics went first and took Rick Monday, followed by the Mets taking Les Rohr. The Washington Senators, the franchise which would eventually become the Texas Rangers, took Coleman with the third pick.
Shortly after being drafted, Coleman got some cups of coffee in the majors. He made two starts in his draft year, at the age of 18, and one more start in 1966. He would get lengthier stints in subsequent seasons. He logged 134 innings in 1967, posting a 4.63 earned run average. He followed that up with 223 innings with a 3.27 ERA in 1968.
Going into 1969, the Senators hired Ted Williams to manage the club. Coleman and Williams didn’t get along, but the pitcher still managed to post good numbers. Over the 1969 and 1970 seasons, Coleman logged 466 1/3 innings with a 3.42 ERA.
Perhaps due to the contentious relationship with Williams, Coleman was shipped out of town shortly after the 1970 season. He was sent to the Tigers alongside Ed Brinkman, Jim Hannan and Aurelio Rodríguez in exchange for Elliott Maddox, Denny McLain, Norm McRae and Don Wert.
The change of scenery worked out well for Coleman and the Tigers. He posted a 3.15 ERA in 286 innings in 1971. The following year, he dropped his ERA to 2.80 in 280 innings, getting selected to the All-Star team in the process.
Detroit ended up atop the American League East in that strike-shortened season. In the ALCS, which was a best-of-five series at that time, the Athletics took the first two games in Oakland. The series shifted back to Detroit and Coleman got the ball for game three. He tossed a complete game shutout as the Tigers won 3-0. His 14 strikeouts that day were an ALCS record at the time. Though Mike Boddicker tied the record in 1983, it wasn’t topped until Mike Mussina got to 15 in 1997. The Tigers would also win the fourth game of that series but dropped the fifth and were eliminated. That one brilliant performance would eventually go down as Coleman’s only postseason appearance.
He stayed in Detroit for a few more years, though with declining results. His ERA climbed to 3.53 in 1973, 4.32 the year after that and then 5.55 in 1975. He went into journeyman mode from there, pitching for the Cubs, Athletics, Blue Jays, Giants and Pirates throughout the rest of the decade. He finished his playing career with a 3.70 ERA over 2,569 1/3 innings.
After his playing days were done, he went into coaching, doing some minor league work within the systems of the Mariners and the Angels. He would eventually get up to the majors with the latter club, serving as bullpen coach. He then spent a few years as the pitching coach of the Cardinals from 1991 to 1994 before returning to the Angels, serving at times as bullpen coach and pitching coach. He later spent some time coaching in the minors for the Rays, Tigers and Marlins. His son Casey Coleman pitched for the Cubs and Royals about a decade ago, making three straight generations of Coleman men pitching in the majors.
We at MLB Trade Rumors join the baseball world in sending our condolences to the Coleman family and everyone else in mourning this week.
Photo courtesy of Malcolm Emmons, Imagn Images
RIP Joe…..
I still like seeing W-L records., the objective is still to win the game. I know he was a decent pitcher, but his ERA received an assist with lack of hitting in 1967-68.
You do know that these names are all clickable, right? You can see every stat about each player with one click to baseball reference.
Rest in peace, Joe. Thanks for the memories! Those were some decent teams in Detroit in the early 70s. Mickey Lolich, Joe Coleman and John Hiller (plus the Bird later on) pitching to Bill Freehan. Aurelio Rodriguez, Eddie Brinkman, Mickey Stanley and Norm Cash in the in infield. Willie Horton, Al Kaline and Jim Northrup in the outfield. Gates Brown coming off the bench once a night to pinch hit for the pitchers. Too bad they couldn’t recapture the magic of 1968.
By the way, Arnold Ziffer is a pig!
I believe it was Ziffel.
My compliments to MLBTR for the very nice, thorough write up on Mr Coleman. My sympathies to his family.
He got a ring with the Pirates in ’79. Even though he was omitted from the Series roster, he traveled with the team. He had been relegated to mop-up duty that year. In Chicago on a brutally hot afternoon, the Pirates were being blown out. He entered the game in the 3rd inning & insisted on going the rest of the way & sparing the bullpen, giving up 9 runs (8 earned). After the game, Chuck Tanner told him “You just won us the pennant”, praising him for his selflessness in taking one for the team.
I remember Joe. He was a solid pitcher for a long time and a good pitching coach for a spell after retiring. Condolences to his family and friends.
Nice tribute Karaoke…. Years later I remember Tim Wakefield doing the same for Red Sox… True teammates and professionals!!!
baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN197908070.shtm…
Yep. The Bucs picked him up as a free agent during 79 essentially to be that “extra” guy, to fill in when needed. And he proved to be just as important as any other winner in that squad.
RIP
I am old enough to remember him. He was good. I also remember the guys in that trade. All major league players. Not prospects. How long has it been since there were 4 major league players traded in the same deal for four major league players? Trades were fun back then. Not so much anymore.
Joe coached the Lakeland Tigers for many years. One of his baseball cards said he enjoyed golf, and I asked him after a game if he had ever hit a hole in one. He said he did, and I asked how it made him feel, and he relied ‘exhilarated’. He was a humble man even as a former big leaguer and world champion, and always drove his beat up pickup truck to the games. RIP, Joe.
October 3, 1965.. saw him pitch a complete game against Detroit at DC Stadium. Against Joe Sparma. Got the ticket stub around here.. somewhere.. RIP Joe.
Sad that there’s no more ticket stubs. I assume it’s the same across the majors. The Mariners require you to have them on your phone. I have a manila envelope tucked away with hundreds of baseball ticket stubs, plus concerts and plays. With Baseball Reference I can pull out a random stub, look at the date, and find the box score. To me, something has been lost but others just chalk it up to progress.
Progress can actually be regression when one looks at the totality of it.
That and CG’s. Being a life long Phillies fan I have a bias regarding what I consider one of the greatest seasons for a pitcher ever.
1972 the Phils won only 59 games and Steve Carlton went 27-10, 1.97 era, 41 games started, 346.1 IP, 310K’s, 8 shut outs and 30 complete game…… 30. He did that 3 years after they lowered the mound because pitchers “had too much of an advantage”.
We will never see things like that again.
Cat, Carlton won 45% of Phillies games that season! I knew about his awesome season from his baseball cards, but it had escaped me that the team only won 59 games, and he won 27 of them. Truly one of the great seasons ever made greater by his losing team behind him. Great post, Cat Mando.
Thanks. My Phillies fandom goes all the way back to when Dick Allen was RoY and Johnny Callison was my childhood idol (yep I’m old).
That 72 season Lefty was 5-6 at the end of May and then went on a 22-4 tear. One game he got a no decision – pitched 10 shut out innings and they lost 1-0 in 11. About a month later he threw 11 inn of 2 run ball and they won 3-2. He faced 38 and 41 batters respectively. let’s say he averaged 4 pitches per batter, that would be 152 and 164 pitches. He did all that averaging 3 days rest.
I know that people will say “but they didn’t throw hard at that time.” To that I would say watch the documentary called “FASTBALL” and see why Ryan and even threw the fastest pitch ever and guys like Walter Johnson and Bob Feller threw in the upper 90’s and 100’s, Lefty threw hard, we just don’t know how hard.
I miss those days.
Cat Mando. I’m also old. I can say I saw guys like Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Brooks Robinson, Jim Piersall, Don Zimmer (as a player) and Roberto Clemente in person.
Though Carlton worked a lot on 3 days rest, 198 games, he actually had 4 days rest in most games, 354.
There’s no denying that he, and guys like Ryan, Johnson, and Feller threw near 100 mph. But they were fairly unique for their time. These days every team has multiple guys throwing in the upper 90s.
And Carlton was a true unicorn in that his effectiveness did not fall as the game went on. The only reason the use of relievers has grown over time is because most pitchers couldn’t, and still can’t, mimic that effectiveness throughout the game.
Cat- Absolutely no bias there.
Bad season the next year.
One of the greatest pitchers of all time.
In addition to his greatness as a pitcher, he could hit too. He was 1st up as a pinch hitter when Ozark or whoever had used up the bench.
Joe and Mickey were a formidable 1-2 punch in the early to mid 1970’s. The 1972 Tigers were one of my all time favorite teams growing up.
That was Billy Martin’s Tigers team. They lost to the A’s in the ALCS, right?
Yep. Al Kaline, Norm Cash, Willie Horton, Mickey Stanley, Jim Northrup, Gates Brown, Bill Freehan, Woodie Fryman, Dick McAuliffe, Aurelio Rodriguez, Duke Sims, Tony Taylor, John Hiller etc…
I was also a big Tigers’ fan back then. A truly great roster. But as a Senator’s fan, I really hated seeing Aurelio Rodriquez go. He and Ed Brinkman formed one of the best defensive left side of the IF in MLB history.
Eddie Brinkman. During the 1960’s and 70’s there were a few middle infielder’s who were excellent fielder’s and couldn’t hit a lick and he was one of them. Their ilk is gone. There’s no place in the big leagues anymore for players who can’t hit the ball hard. If Eddie trained like players do today, he’d likely have been a much better offensive player.
Eddie Brinkman, I heard somewhere he had the longest neck in MLB. Check out his baseball cards . He pairs well with Walt “No Neck” Williams of the White Sox.
Yes. In 1972, Woodie Frymann saved the Tigers after being cut by the Phillies then picked up by the Tigers. Those pitchers went deep into the game.
All except 3B Aurelio Rodriguez, CF Mickey Stanley and SS Eddie Brinkman, Billy Martin platooned the entire team. It was a pretty old team as I remember.
Very old
Always will love that 72 team ! Remembered the playoffs vs the A’s like it was yesterday. Ran home from school to watch the games
It is kinda sad to see and reminding of the own aging that more and more players with color photos of their playing days are passing away. I’m an older millennial and it seems just a few years ago that most of the players passing away had black and white photos.
We are not getting younger:)
The Tigers got the best of that trade with Washington. Eddie Brinkman was their shortstop four years and Aurelio Rodriguez played third base for nine years. Not to mention Coleman’s contributions. Going the other way, Denny McLain’s best days were way behind him.
I was in DC at that time, and a Senator’s fan. I’m convinced that Bob Short, the owner and GM, made that trade to help facilitate the move to Texas. He used poor attendance as the reason. Short bought the team in the 1968-’69 offseason. The attendance in ’69 was 918K+, which ranked them 14th out of 24 teams.. The next year it was nearly 825K (17th). Then he made the trade, and the attendance dipped to just over 655K (22nd).
I believe it was the Tigers best and most lopsided trade in their franchise history.
They had to make room for Toby Harrah so it made sense to trade Eddie Brinkman. Maybe Ted Williams thought he could make Don Wert an all star again after he fell off dramatically after being beaned in 68. Just speculation for trading away Aurelio Rodriguez.
RIP Joe, and another former Cub, Lee Elia, has passed away, too. ….AND PRINT IT!!!
Never heard of him …. But RIP
Always liked Joe Coleman. R.I.P.
Joe was solid and a pretty good pitcher. I remember him well. Didn’t know his father pitched and was named Joe Coleman too. Learn something new every day. RIP Joe.
sufferforsnakes. The game is just played differently today It isn’t about the ability to pitch a lot of innings. It’s about the number of innings that lead to a better outcome. Stats show that a pitcher’s effectiveness goes down the more times through the lineup. Plus pitchers don’t pace themselves for 9 innings. They’re told to go all out every inning. That’s something no pitcher in Coleman’s time was doing.
Cat Mando. You’re talking about one of the games best pitchers of all time, in one of his very best seasons. Even when pitchers were pacing themselves to go 9, very few were able to come close what Carlton did that season. He was unique, not typical, by any stretch of the imagination.
There are great pitchers that are/were close to Carlton in ability, but because the game isn’t played that way anymore, his accomplishments. are just one of many we’ll not see again.
Sorry to see Coleman’s passing. I was a Senator’s fan when he was traded to the Tigers. It was a trade deeply regretted by me and other Senator’s fans.
Joe began playing MLB at age 18. pretty incredible had a good long career (yet retired at age 32!) especially good during late 60’s early 70s – he played with one of the great baseball names in Don Blasingame
I was a huge Don Blasingame fan. He also played one season with Don Zimmer.
280 innings in ‘71… yeah I know they didn’t throw 99mph back then, & often didn’t throw their hardest (they’re pitchers, not throwers) but that total looks like science fiction today. RIP Mr Coleman
RIP Joe remember that 72 game3 playoff like yesterday. 🙏
Rest in peace Joe Coleman.
Got his autograph as a kid at Candlestick during his brief tenure with the Giants.
I have a beautiful PSA 9 1972 Topps high # card of him on the Tigers.
Came up young and was only 30 or so when he retired.
RIP Joe Coleman.
Joe Coleman was a HOSS. I remember his great seasons with the Tigers. There wasn’t as much transparency in those days but I never read or heard a negative thing about him in Detroit as a person, player, pitcher, or competitor.
With respect, obviously, to Ted Williams, but what problem on earth did he think he had with Joe Coleman when he shipped him off (along with two Gold Glovers, who Williams temporarily turned into .260 hitters, Rodriguez with some power) to instead find himself relying on Denny McLain????
Great memories of Joe (and Mickey Lolich – and even Denny McLain before his arm went and his troubles became too big and too frequent). It was a different game but Coleman was a HOSS, as was Lolich and [earlier for a while] McLain.
R.I.P JOE COLEMAN. Thanks for pitching in Detroit, and when one looks at the innings then an now……it would be like almost a decade for today’s pitchers.
one of the only baseball cards I have of Coleman is him wearing a Toronto Bluejays uniform and the card says he is on the Giants
sufferforsnake – Right! Even better tho was another Tiger, Mickey Lolich – 3 of four seasons with 300+ innings!
Call me crazy but I’d take Joel Colman over any pitcher of his era.
How sad.
Stinktoid.