Mel Stottlemyre

Lore & Background

Stottlemyre pitched in American Legion Baseball and attended Mabton High School in Mabton, Washington, and Yakima Valley Community College. A scout for the New York Yankees discovered him pitching for Yakima's baseball team, and signed him to a contract with no signing bonus on June 10, 1961. He played for the Yankees from 1964 to 1974, winning 20 games in 1965, 1968, and 1969. He threw 40 shutouts in his career, tying Sandy Koufax. On July 20, 1965, Stottlemyre hit a rare inside-the-park grand slam. He retired with 164 career wins and a 2.97 ERA. After his playing career, he became a pitching coach for the New York Mets (1984–1993), Houston Astros (1994–1995), New York Yankees (1996–2005), and Seattle Mariners (2008). He resigned from the Yankees on October 12, 2005, citing personal disagreements with Yankees owner George Steinbrenner among his reasons for leaving.

Reader's Guide

Stottlemyre was a five-time MLB All-Star as a player and a five-time World Series champion as a coach. He was inducted into the Washington State American Legion Baseball Hall of Fame in 2012. The Yankees dedicated a plaque in Monument Park in his honor on June 20, 2015. He coauthored an autobiography titled Pride and Pinstripes, published in 2007. He was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2000, which reappeared in 2011, and he died on January 13, 2019, at age 77.

Did You Know?

• He recorded five base hits in five at bats on September 26, 1964.
• He threw 40 shutouts in his career, the same number as Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax.
• Stottlemyre's first two sons, Mel Jr. and Todd, also became major-league pitchers.