R.I.P. Mike Flanagan

[AR]

Former AL Cy Young Award Winner and one of my favorite Orioles from when they were one of the best teams in baseball in the 70's and 80's.

[Journey/Survivor]

Former AL Cy Young Award Winner and one of my favorite Orioles from when they were one of the best teams in baseball in the 70's and 80's.

That was an awesome pitching staff.

Jim Palmer, Mike Flanagan, Steve Stone, Scott McGregor, Tippy Martinez, Dennis Martinez.

[conversationpc]

I heard that on Mike & Mike this morning...They talked about a story when Flanagan came back to the Orioles after being with the Blue Jays and how he got more of a response from the crowd than then Secretary of State Dick Cheney did, who threw out the first pitch. Flanagan said something to the effect of his being surprised at the response compared to Cheney and that Cheney "Had a better spring than I did."

[AR]

He pitched the final inning of the final game at old Memorial Stadium. The place went crazy.

This is a sad story, and not all the details have been revealed. It looks like he took his own life. Some friends said in recent years he's been despondent over the state of the Orioles franchise and the perception by some of his failure to correct things when he was G.M. There has to be more to it than that, but if that had anything at all do with his actions it's tragic and awful to end things over something so trivial. (like any reason is a "good" reason) He leaves behind a wife and 3 children.

This is reminding me of the Brad Delp situation, as Flanny was well liked by everyone in the community, but was kind of a shy, introverted person.