http://content.usatoday.com/communities/dailypitch/post/2011/08/baltimore-orioles-mike-flanagan-found-dead/1

Orioles great Mike Flanagan found dead



By Scott Boeck, USA TODAY
Updated 7m ago

Mike Flanagan, whose career with the Baltimore Orioles included a Cy Young Award and World Series championship as a pitcher, and stints as a coach, executive and broadcaster, was found dead at his Maryland home on Wednesday.

Flanagan's death was first reported by WBAL-TV in Baltimore and later confirmed by the Baltimore Sun, citing law enforcement or club sources.
Mike Flanagan, a former Orioles executive, had a career 167–143 record and a 3.90 ERA.

Baltimore County police had said they were investigating a body found on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. ET on the property owned by Flanagan, 59. They declined to identify the body.

Orioles Managing Partner Peter Angelos issued the following statement regarding Flanagan's death: "It is with deep sadness that I learned of the death of my friend Mike Flanagan earlier this evening. In over a quarter century with the organization, Flanny became an integral part of the Orioles family, for his accomplishments both on and off the field. His loss will be felt deeply and profoundly by all of us with the ballclub and by Orioles fans everywhere who admired him. On behalf of the club, I extend my condolences to his wife, Alex; and daughters Kerry, Kathryn and Kendall."

"It's just shock right now," said former Orioles catcher Rick Dempsey. "I know everybody that played with him loved him to death. He was the backbone of that pitching staff. He never quit — this guy never quit. He was there for the duration. We had so many great games and so many great times. I just can't believe it."

Flanagan pitched for 18 seasons with the Orioles (1975-87 and 1991-92) and the Toronto Blue Jays (1988-90). The left-hander won the Cy Young Award in 1979 after posting a 23–9 and a 3.08 ERA. In 1983, he went 12-4 for the World Series champion Orioles. In 1991, he was part of a no-hitter with starter Bob Milacki, middle reliever Mark Williamson, and closer Gregg Olson at Oakland.

Flanagan had a career record of 167-143 and a 3.90 ERA.

After he retired in 1992, Flanagan served two stints as Orioles pitching coach and was the Orioles executive vice president of baseball operations. He and Jim Duquette shared general manager responsibilities for a time, but Flanagan's front-office influence lessened with the 2007 hiring of Andy MacPhail as president of baseball operations.

In 2010, Flanagan was hired by Mid-Atlantic Sports Network to work as a color analyst on Orioles telecasts.

Though Flanagan spent parts of four seasons with the Blue Jays, he finished his career pitchin two more seasons with the Orioles, re-casting himself as a successful left-handed reliever. He fulfilled a dream by recording the final two outs by an Orioles pitcher at old Memorial Stadium in 1991.

Said Flanagan in a July 1991 interview: "That would be a real honor. It's to the point where I've had a pretty decent year here. I'd like to pitch in the last game. Pitching the last inning in that ballpark would mean a lot to me."

:rip: Mike Flanagan

Oh my! :rip:

The Orioles is my Dad's favorite team. I used to listen to the games on the radio with him in the late 70's. Mike Flanagan was a great pitcher This is so sad. :(

The Orioles is my Dad's favorite team. I used to listen to the games on the radio with him in the late 70's. Mike Flanagan was a great pitcher This is so sad. :(
Mike Flanagan was a great pitcher and will be remembered best as an Oriole but I remember him best for his stint with the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Maryland medical examiner has ruled the death of Mike Flanagan a suicide.

http://tsn.ca/mlb/story/?id=374469

I don't remember him but such sad news. :rip:

They think it's suicide. :(

:rip: Mike Flanagan.

I don't remember him but such sad news. :rip:

Very sad.

He happened to be the Cy Young Award winner in 1979, going 23-9. He won his 23rd game on Sept 23, 1979, and that win was at the expense of your Cleveland Indians. That may have been the first Indians game you ever watched! It was played at Baltimore.

That year (1979) was his only 20-win season, and he went 19-15 the year before. Finished with a 167-143 record (.539).

He got 26 out of 28 first place votes in the C.Y. award voting, Yankee pitchers Tommy John and Ron Guidry split the other two first place votes.

He won game 1 of the 1979 World Series against the Pirates, and the Orioles eventually took a 3-1 series lead. But the Pirates beat him in Game 5 to stay alive, and Pittsburgh also won games 6 and 7 in Baltimore.

On a side note, the Pirates have won a total of 5 World Series, and all five were won in 7 games: 1909 (Tigers); 1925 (Washington Senators); 1960 (Yankees); 1971 and 1979 (Orioles). The erased a 3-1 deficit in 1925 and 1979, and in 1971 they went down 0-2 to Baltimore before coming back. The Orioles don't like to play the Pirates in the World Series.

I watched the Orioles-Yankees game tonight. They had Flanagan's number up on the wall under the baseball booth and all the Orioles players had a Flanagan patch which they're going to wear for the rest of the season. Two of Flanagan's daughters were at the game too.

169488
For those of you who can't remember Mike Flanagan this is what he looked like during his playing days with the O's.

The Maryland medical examiner has ruled the death of Mike Flanagan a suicide.

http://tsn.ca/mlb/story/?id=374469

They think it's suicide. :(

I read somewhere that he was facing financial difficulties as the reason he shot himself to death. You'd think he would be financially set with his TV deal with the Orioles!

He won his 23rd game on Sept 23, 1979, and that win was at the expense of your Cleveland Indians. That may have been the first Indians game you ever watched! It was played at Baltimore.

Gosh, I was only 3 days old and still in the hospital!!! If the game was on in my mom's room or the nursery, I obviously don't remember it. :lol:

I read somewhere that he was facing financial difficulties as the reason he shot himself to death. You'd think he would be financially set with his TV deal with the Orioles!
Yea I don't get it. He was actually supposed to broadcast the Orioles-Yankees game this weekend. I was watching the Orioles post game show on the night it was announced. Jim Palmer and Rick Dempsey were in tears. It's so sad. From what everyone has said, he was a great guy with a big sense of humor. :(

Gosh, I was only 3 days old and still in the hospital!!! If the game was on in my mom's room or the nursery, I obviously don't remember it. :lol:

Hey, you certainly wouldn't be the first person not to remember the result of a game played 3 days after you were born. :)

I knew that 1979 was his Cy Young season, and when you mentioned that you didn't remember Flanagan, I figured I'd check out his 1979 game log (http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.cgi?id=flanami01&t=p&year=1979) to see if he happened to pitch on the day you were born. Close, but not quite.

Close enough. I was born on a Thursday, so he would've pitched against Cleveland on a Sunday. Do you have the box score for that particular game?

Never mind, I found the box score. Eddie Murray, of course, was in the early days of his HOF career - and of course, would later on play from 1994-96 with the Indians in their glory days. The man managing those teams was the starting Indians first baseman that day, Mike Hargrove. Rick Manning is now one of the Indians' TV broadcasters, and Toby Harrah was also an Indians coach for awhile.

I wonder why Andre Thornton wasn't in the Indians' lineup that day - if he just got a day off or was on the DL. Maybe I should check that out!!

Never mind, I found the box score. Eddie Murray, of course, was in the early days of his HOF career - and of course, would later on play from 1994-96 with the Indians in their glory days. The man managing those teams was the starting Indians first baseman that day, Mike Hargrove. Rick Manning is now one of the Indians' TV broadcasters, and Toby Harrah was also an Indians coach for awhile.

I wonder why Andre Thornton wasn't in the Indians' lineup that day - if he just got a day off or was on the DL. Maybe I should check that out!!


Here is the box score and complete play by play (http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BAL/BAL197909232.shtml) from baseball-reference.com (a GREAT web site) for Flanagan's 23rd victory.

Interesting you should mention Andre Thornton... I just looked at his game log for 1979 (http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.cgi?id=thornan01&t=b&year=1979), and the last game he played that year was on Sept 22. That was his 143rd and final game of the season . He mostly played first base, and Hargrove was actually moved to first base for most of the remaining games (looks like they played a minor leaguer or two also). Here is a listing of the Indians starting lineups (http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CLE/1979-batting-orders.shtml) for every game that year... you can see that Hargrove moved to first base for most of the last 10 games...maybe Thornton did get hurt.


And here's a bit of Hargrove trivia, courtesy of wikipedia:

On July 22, 1999, in a game against the Toronto Blue Jays, Hargrove handed in a lineup card which listed Manny Ramírez as the designated hitter and Alex Ramirez as the right fielder. But Manny came out to play right field in the first inning, which got the attention of Toronto manager Jim Fregosi. When Fregosi pointed it out to the umpires, the Indians lost their DH. Consequently, Alex Ramirez was involuntarily removed from the game without having had an at-bat, and pitcher Charles Nagy was forced not only to bat, but to bat 7th in the lineup. The Indians subsequently lost the game 4 to 3

Now I ask you...could that have possibly happened in any place other than Cleveland? :)

And here's a bit of Hargrove trivia, courtesy of wikipedia:

On July 22, 1999, in a game against the Toronto Blue Jays, Hargrove handed in a lineup card which listed Manny Ramírez as the designated hitter and Alex Ramirez as the right fielder. But Manny came out to play right field in the first inning, which got the attention of Toronto manager Jim Fregosi. When Fregosi pointed it out to the umpires, the Indians lost their DH. Consequently, Alex Ramirez was involuntarily removed from the game without having had an at-bat, and pitcher Charles Nagy was forced not only to bat, but to bat 7th in the lineup. The Indians subsequently lost the game 4 to 3

Now I ask you...could that have possibly happened in any place other than Cleveland? :)

I remember that game!!!! That was one of the goofiest things ever - and yes, where else but Cleveland? :eek: :crazy: :lol:

I remember that game!!!! That was one of the goofiest things ever - and yes, where else but Cleveland? :eek: :crazy: :lol:

I remember when that happened as well, a guy where I used to work was a Cleveland fan in all sports, so we gave him a hard time about that. I didn't remember all these years later that it was Ramirez, but again, who else WOULD it have been? :)

I know - we were shocked, too. :crazy: :lol: