Michael Kendall Flanagan was an
American left-handed pitcher,
front office executive, and color commentator died from suicide by gunshot he was 59. With the exception of four years with the
Toronto Blue Jays (
1987–
1990), he was with the
Baltimore Orioles for his entire career in
Major League Baseball (MLB).
(December 16, 1951 – August 24, 2011)
Flanagan was a
starting pitcher for the Orioles from
1975 through
1987. He was named to the
American League (AL) All-Star Team once in
1978.
The following year, the first of two times he would play on an AL
pennant winner, his 23 victories led the circuit and earned him the league's
Cy Young Award. He was a member of the Orioles'
World Series Championship team in
1983. He returned to Baltimore to close out his playing career as a
reliever in
1991 and
1992. During this second tour, he contributed to the most recent
no-hitter thrown by the club. He was also the last Orioles pitcher to appear in a major-league contest at
Memorial Stadium.
In an 18-season career, Flanagan posted a 167–143 record with 1491
strikeouts and a 3.90 ERA in 2770.0
innings pitched.
He served in three different positions with the Orioles after his retirement as an active player. He was the pitching coach in
1995 and
1998 and the executive vice president of baseball operations from
2006 through
2008.
At the time of his death, he was one of the team's broadcasters, a
capacity he had previously held three times (1994, 1996–1997,
1999–2002).
[2]
Early years
Born and raised in
Manchester, New Hampshire, he was one of Ed and Lorraine Flanagan's four children and the younger of their two
sons. Under the coaching of his
father and
grandfather Ed Sr., who both played in the
Boston Red Sox organization, he once
struck out 18 batters in a six-
inning Little League game.
[3][4]
Flanagan graduated from
Manchester (NH) Memorial High School, where he was on baseball and
basketball teams that each won consecutive
New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association (NHIAA) Class L titles in 1970 and 1971.
[5] His pitching was limited in 1971 due to an
arm injury he had sustained while playing
American Legion Baseball for the local Henry J. Sweeney Post the previous
summer.
[6] This factored into him not signing a
contract after he was picked by the
Houston Astros in the 15th round (346th overall) of the
1971 Major League Baseball Draft.
[5][7]
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Flanagan attended the
University of Massachusetts Amherst,
where he played baseball in 1972 and 1973. He earned first team
All-Yankee Conference and first team All-New England honors in 1973,
after he compiled a 9–1 record with a 1.52 ERA and 91 strikeouts, to
lead the team in all three categories. The nine wins and .900 winning
percentage also set school single-season records at the time. Flanagan
had a career ERA of 1.19 and a career winning percentage of .923 (12–1),
which are both still the best marks in school history.
[8] He also played in the outfield while at UMass, hitting .320 with six homers and 29 RBIs in 128 career at-bats.
Flanagan also played freshman basketball at UMass, where he crossed paths with
Julius Erving.
[9]
He received his degree from the UMass School of Education in 1975, and
was inducted into the UMass Athletic Hall of Fame in 2000.
[10]
He was a pitcher and outfielder for the
Falmouth Commodores in the
Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) during the
summer of 1972. He had a 7–1 record and a 2.18
earned run average (ERA), while batting .286 with seven
home runs. He was a member of the CCBL's inaugural Hall of Fame class in 2000.
[11]
Professional baseball career
Baltimore Orioles
Flanagan was selected again in the
1973 MLB Draft, this time by the
Baltimore Orioles in the 7th round (159th overall).
[12] When he signed with the Orioles, the ballclub agreed to finance the remainder of his college education.
[3] He progressed through the organization, with stops in
Miami (1973–1974),
Asheville (1974) and
Rochester, where he went 13–4 with a 2.50 ERA in 1975.
[13]
His experience in the major leagues began with two appearances as a
September call-up in
1975.
[14] In his MLB debut on September 5, he pitched 1⅔
innings in relief of
starter Wayne Garland in a 5–4 victory at home over the
New York Yankees in the opener of a
twi-night doubleheader.
[15] His first decision was a 3–2 loss to the same opponent at
Shea Stadium
in the nightcap of another twin bill on September 28. He was on the
verge of a complete-game shutout until the bottom of the ninth when the
first three batters he faced reached base and
Dyar Miller allowed all of them to score.
[16]
Flanagan's
1976 campaign was split between Rochester and Baltimore.
[13][14] He did not get his first major-league win until a 7–1 complete-game triumph at home over the eventual
AL West Champion
Kansas City Royals late that year on September 1.
[17] He joined the Orioles' starting rotation in
1977, finishing with a 15–10 record."
[18]
One of the team's most dependable pitchers for the next nine years, Flanagan went to the
All-Star Game in 1978 and won the
Cy Young Award in 1979 with a record of 23–9 and an
ERA of 3.08.
On September 17, 1980, Flanagan was called for a balk which led to
Earl Weaver's most
infamous tirade.
Flanagan suffered two major injuries during his tenure with the Orioles, a knee injury in 1983, and a torn
achilles tendon from a pick-up basketball game.
Returning as a
free agent to Baltimore for the 1991 season, he pitched effectively that season as a reliever, including sharing a no-hitter with starter
Bob Milacki, middle reliever
Mark Williamson, and closer
Gregg Olson.
[19] After a forgettable 1992 season, Flanagan retired from baseball.
Toronto Blue Jays
His time between the two tours with the Orioles was spent with the
Toronto Blue Jays, beginning on August 31, 1987 when he was traded for
Oswaldo Peraza.
José Mesa was sent to Baltimore to complete the deal four days later on September 4. The Blue Jays released
Phil Niekro to make room for Flanagan on its roster.
[20]
Flanagan's finest performance with the Blue Jays occurred at
Tiger Stadium in the penultimate game of the
1987 regular season on October 3.
[21] With Toronto in a first-place tie with the
Detroit Tigers and having lost its last five contests,
[22] he outlasted
Jack Morris
by pitching eleven innings before departing with the match deadlocked
at 2–2. The Blue Jays ended up losing the game 3–2 one inning later and
the
AL East championship the following afternoon.
[23]
Morris said after the game, "Flanagan was so great, so competitive,
that I considered my job to be survival – somehow keep us tied until he
left the game. We weren't going to get to the playoffs beating him, we
could only get there surviving him."
[18]
Flanagan's only postseason experience with the Blue Jays was a Game 4 start in the
1989 AL Championship Series on October 7. He only lasted 4⅓ innings, giving up five
runs and three homers. The only one not hit by
Rickey Henderson,
Jose Canseco's 480-
foot (146.30
meters) shot in the third inning, was the first ever to land in the top deck at
Skydome.
[23][24]
His final appearance with Toronto was a start that resulted in a 3–1
loss at home to the Tigers on May 4, 1990. He surrendered all three runs
in 4⅓ innings.
[25] He was released four days later on May 8.
[26] His overall record with the Blue Jays was 26–27.
[23]
Post-playing days
He served two stints each as a pitching coach and broadcaster for the
Orioles. Flanagan was the Orioles' executive vice president of baseball
operations. In recent years, positions in the Orioles' front office
have been referred to by this title that would be known as
general manager in other team organizations. However with the appointment of
Andy MacPhail as President of Baseball Operations, his responsibilities dwindled. According to
Dave Johnson on the August 15, 2009 episode of the
Tom Davis Show, Flanagan's contract with the Orioles had ended in 2008 and he was no longer officially with the club.
Flanagan's career as a
color commentator on Orioles telecasts began with 20 contests on Home Team Sports (HTS) in
1994. His appointment by the network as the primary game analyst alongside
Mel Proctor in early-January 1996 followed the controversial dismissal of
John Lowenstein, an Orioles teammate of Flanagan's during their playing days.
[27][28] He also teamed with
Michael Reghi for a year before being succeeded by
Rick Cerone prior to the
1998 season.
[29] He rejoined Reghi in the broadcast booth after replacing Cerone in
1999.
[30] He continued in that capacity for four more seasons, during which HTS evolved into
Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic. He was followed behind the microphone by
Buck Martinez in
2003.
[31] He joined the
Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN) as the secondary analyst after Martinez became the Blue Jays'
lead broadcaster on
Rogers Sportsnet in
2010. Both he and
Jim Palmer worked with rotating play-by-play announcers
Gary Thorne and
Jim Hunter.
[32]
Sense of humor
Flanagan was noted for his sense of
humor, especially when it involved using
puns to create
nicknames. In his
baseball column in the
Sunday issues of
The Boston Globe during the late-1970s,
Peter Gammons ran a regular feature called the Mike Flanagan Nickname of the Week. One example was
John "Clams" Castino, which was a play on
clams casino.
[18] Another was "Mordecai Six Toe" Lezcano, based on
Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown and given to
Sixto Lezcano.
[33] When the Blue Jays allowed
Tony Solaita to sign with the
Nippon-Ham Fighters after the
1979 campaign, he was dubbed "Tony Obsolaita."
[18] During the
1980 season, Flanagan called himself "
Cy Young," Jim Palmer "Cy Old,"
Steve Stone "Cy Present" and
Scott McGregor "Cy Future." When
Storm Davis, whose pitching motion resembled Palmer's, joined the Orioles two years later in
1982, he was "Cy Clone."
[34] Flanagan added that pitchers became "
Cy-bex" if they were injured and "Cy-onara" when they were no longer effective.
[35] Two monikers that stuck were "Full Pack" and "Stan the Man Unusual," both of which were coined for
Don Stanhouse.
[34] This nickname concept was later popularized by
ESPN's
Chris Berman, who was inspired by the feature in Gammons' column.
[18]
Pitching style
Flanagan's pitch selection included a
slow curve, heavy
sinker,
fastball, and a
changeup supposedly taught to him by
Scott McGregor in 1979.
[36]
Personal
Flanagan's oldest
daughter Kerry Ellen was the fourth
American born through
in vitro fertilization and the first not by
Caesarean section. She was born at the
Greater Baltimore Medical Center on July 9, 1982. The conception had been performed at the
Eastern Virginia Medical School.
[37][38]
Death
When Flanagan's wife did not hear from her husband on August 24,
2011, she called a neighbor to check on him. The neighbor went to the
home and called
9-1-1
after failing to find him. Police discovered a body on the property but
could not immediately determine the identity because the wounds were so
severe.
[39] The body was later identified as Flanagan, with the cause of death determined to be a
self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head.
[1][2] Police said that Flanagan was distressed about financial issues.
WBAL-TV reported that Flanagan was still despondent about perceived failures during his tenure in the Orioles' front office.
[41]
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