{"id":103845,"date":"2025-07-10T15:13:07","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T19:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=103845"},"modified":"2025-07-10T15:13:07","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T19:13:07","slug":"joe-coleman-passes-away-at-78","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/07\/10\/joe-coleman-passes-away-at-78\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Major League Pitcher Joe Coleman Passes Away at 78"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=colemjo05,colemjo04&amp;search=Joe+Coleman&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-07-10_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joe Coleman<\/a>, who pitched for seven teams during a 15-year major league career, has passed away. The Associated Press reported that he died in his sleep on Wednesday night. He was 78 years old.<\/p>\n<p>Coleman was the Washington Senators\u2019 first-round draft pick (third overall) in the inaugural June Amateur Draft in 1965 out of high school. He made his major league debut that year at age 18, making him the first drafted player to debut in the majors. All told, he pitched for the Senators (1965-70), Detroit Tigers (1971-76), Chicago Cubs (1976), Oakland Athletics (1977-78), Toronto Blue Jays (1978), San Francisco Giants (1979), and Pittsburgh Pirates (1979). For his career, he was 142-135 with a 3.70 ERA, 1.331 WHIP, and 97 ERA+, accumulating 24.7 WAR.<\/p>\n<h2>Former Major League Pitcher Joe Coleman Passes Away at 78<\/h2>\n<p>Those 1979 Pirates won the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/05\/23\/pirates-1979-world-series\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">World Series<\/a>. Although Coleman wasn\u2019t on the postseason roster, he was an important member of the team. So much so that manager <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/t\/tannech01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-07-10_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chuck Tanner<\/a> requested permission to allow Coleman to be on the bench during the postseason. Coleman served as the Pirates&#8217; batting practice pitcher during the National League Championship Series and World Series.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Joe Coleman, No. 3 pick in first MLB draft who briefly pitched for Pirates, dies at 78 <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/sBbZxF0K8y\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/sBbZxF0K8y<\/a> via <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PittsburghPG?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@PittsburghPG<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Rob Zimmer (@PGHfan_66) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PGHfan_66\/status\/1943119322454323285?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 10, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p>&nbsp;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3>\u201cI Feel That I Saved People for Tomorrow\u201d<\/h3>\n<p>Coleman\u2019s biggest contribution to the 1979 Pirates came on a day when he put on one of the worst pitching performances of the season. On August 7 at Wrigley Field, the Cubs jumped on Pirates starter <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/rookeji01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-07-10_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jim Rooker<\/a> for four runs. With two outs in the third inning, Tanner summoned the right-handed Coleman. The Cubs got four more runs that inning. Now facing an 8-1 deficit, it was time for the Pirates to wave the white flag. Despite not having his best game (although he insisted the Cubs weren\u2019t hitting the ball hard), Coleman soldiered on until the end of the Cubs\u2019 15-2 victory. Several times, Tanner offered to take him out. Each time, Coleman passed. His pitching line for the day showed 5 1\/3 innings, nine runs (eight earned), 13 hits, four walks, and four strikeouts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel that I saved people for tomorrow,\u201d explained Coleman to Russ Franke of <em>The Pittsburgh Press<\/em>. Indeed, the Pirates had just completed a series with the Philadelphia Phillies that included five games in three days. The bullpen needed the break that Coleman provided. Pittsburgh went 34-17 the rest of the way and narrowly won the NL East Division over the hard-charging Montreal Expos. Surely, the fresh bullpen and Tanner\u2019s frequent use of it played a role.<\/p>\n<h3>The Luxury<\/h3>\n<p>Coleman, who was picked up on a waiver claim in May after several teams passed, joined the team in late July as an 11th pitcher. <em>Press<\/em> columnist Bob Smizik groused that an 11th pitcher was a \u201cluxury.\u201d Baseball was different in 1979. Unlike today, there were no 13-man staffs, no shuttling of pitchers between the big club and Triple-A every time a reliever had to cover more than one inning. Coleman and the other relievers, all veterans with no minor league options, were it.<\/p>\n<p>Coleman\u2019s final stat line for the Pirates included a 6.10 ERA and 1.839 WHIP in 10 games. Take away that afternoon in Chicago, however, when most mortals wouldn\u2019t have passed up the chance to exit the game early, and Coleman had a more reasonable 3.52 ERA and 1.369 WHIP.<\/p>\n<p>The Pirates\u2019 final World Series share amounted to $28,236.87 per player. (Why didn\u2019t Major League Baseball just make it an even $28,237?) The players voted Coleman a one-half share.<\/p>\n<h3>More Famous Elsewhere<\/h3>\n<p>Coleman was better known for his time in Washington and Detroit. He was 43-50 with some bad Senators teams. After the 1970 season, he was part of one of the best or worst trades in baseball history, depending on your point of view. The Senators sent Coleman, shortstop <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/brinked01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-07-10_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ed Brinkman<\/a>, third baseman <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/rodriau01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-07-10_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Aurelio Rodr\u00edguez<\/a>, and pitcher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hannaji01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-07-10_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jim Hannan<\/a> to Detroit. In return, the Tigers dispatched pitchers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mclaide01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-07-10_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Denny McLain<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mcraeno01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-07-10_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Norm McRae<\/a>, third baseman <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wertdo01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-07-10_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Don Wert<\/a>, and outfielder <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/maddoel01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-07-10_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Elliott Maddox<\/a> to Washington.<\/p>\n<p>McLain was 31-6 in 1968 and 24-9 in 1969, winning two American League <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/y\/youngcy01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-07-10_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cy Young<\/a> Awards. But his star dimmed quickly, and Senators manager <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/w\/willite01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-07-10_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ted Williams<\/a> hated the trade. In his book, <em>My Turn At Bat<\/em>, Williams wrote, \u201c[A]fter [the Senators] moved to Texas, and traded away \u2013 against my wishes \u2013 the left side of our infield for a washed-up Denny McLain, the handwriting was on the wall for me. I managed out the contract, but it was over.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>McLain was 10-22 for the Senators in 1971, his only year there. <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/08\/28\/don-wert-passes-away\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Wert, too, only lasted one year<\/a> in the nation\u2019s capital. Meanwhile, with Brinkman and Rodr\u00edguez playing behind him, Coleman was 88-73 for the Tigers. From 1971 to 1973, he had 20-9, 19-14, and 23-15 records, respectively, for the Tigers. Their 1972 team won the AL East Division but succumbed to the eventual World Series champion Athletics in the AL Championship Series.<\/p>\n<p>Now that Coleman has passed away, only McLain and Maddox are still alive from that infamous trade. During his playing days, the hard-living McLain drank a case of Pepsi per day. After he retired, he ballooned to over 300 pounds and needed bariatric surgery. He\u2019s 81 years old today. Defying the odds, McLain is the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.keithrichards.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Keith Richards<\/a> of baseball.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credits: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Joe Coleman, who pitched for seven teams during a 15-year major league career, has passed away. The Associated Press reported that he died in his sleep on Wednesday night. He was 78 years old. Coleman was the Washington Senators\u2019 first-round draft pick (third overall) in the inaugural June Amateur Draft in 1965 out of high [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5010,"featured_media":103881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,11,1071,35],"tags":[5263,5916,1752],"class_list":["post-103845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pirates","category-tigers","category-mlb","category-news","tag-chuck-tanner","tag-denny-mclain","tag-ted-williams"],"modified_by":"Evan Mazza, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5010"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103845"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103845\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103883,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103845\/revisions\/103883"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}