What to Know
- New York Yankees legend Mel Stottlemyre has died at the age of 77
- Born in Hazleton, Missouri, Stottlemyre played 11 seasons for Yanks and coached for nearly two dozen seasons, including for both NY teams
- He and his wife Jean had three children together; two of them followed in their father's footsteps and became MLB pitchers
New York baseball legend Mel Stottlemyre has died.
The former Yankees pitching ace who went on to become a five-time MLB All-Star and five-time World Series champion passed away Sunday in Seattle following a battle with bone marrow cancer, the Daily News reported.
He was 77 years old.
Stottlemyre played his entire career in pinstripes, pitching for the Yankees in the late 1960s through the mid-1970s. He turned to coaching in the 1980s -- and won five World Series with both New York teams over the next two decades.
The Yankees tweeted a statement from principal owner Hal Steinbrenner mourning Stottlemyre's death.
"Mel’s popularity transcended generations, all of whom thought of him as their own. His plaque in Monument Park will forever serve to celebrate the significance of his legacy. We extend our deepest condolences to Mel’s wife Jean & the entire Stottlemyre family," it said.
Stottlemyre's first coaching stop, though, was the Mets, where he coached until 1993 and won one of his five MLB championships as a coach (1986). After a brief stint with the Houston Astros, Stottlemyre returned to New York in 1996, where he was a coach with the Joe Torres-led Yankees for nearly a decade, until 2005. He won four world championships with the Bronx Bombers during their glory era -- in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000.
Born in Missouri and raised in Washington state, Stottlemyre and his wife Jean had three sons together. Two of them followed in their father's footsteps, becoming Major League Baseball pitchers. His other son, Jason, died young of leukemia.
