Michael James LaCoss (born May 30, 1956), is a former

starting pitcher In baseball (hardball or softball), a starting pitcher or starter is the first pitcher in the game for each team. A pitcher is credited with a game started if they throw the first pitch to the opponent's first batter of a game. Starting pit ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

Baseball career

Minor Leagues

LaCoss was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the third round of the 1974 amateur draft.

Cincinnati Reds

LaCoss made his major league debut in 1978, appearing in 18 games and recording an

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

of 4.50 LaCoss had a breakout season in 1979 for the division champion Reds, winning eight consecutive decisions at the start on his way to a 9-3 record and a berth on the National League All-Star team. LaCoss entered the game in the bottom of the sixth with the bases loaded and two outs. The American League squad had taken a 6-5 lead in the game and were threatening for more when LaCoss retired

Don Baylor Don Edward Baylor (June 28, 1949 – August 7, 2017) was an American professional baseball player and manager. During his 19 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), Baylor was a power hitter known for standing very close to home plate (" crowding ...

on a force play. LaCoss then pitched a scoreless seventh as the NL came back to win with single runs in the eighth and ninth. LaCoss went 5-5 for the remainder of 1979 on his way to a 14-8 record with an

of 3.50. After two seasons with less impressive results, LaCoss was placed on waivers and claimed by the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

Houston Astros

LaCoss bounced back in 1982, appearing in 41 games, mostly as a reliever and recording a 6-6 record with an ERA of 2.90. LaCoss appeared for two more years for the Astros before being granted free agency on November 8, 1984.

San Francisco Giants

LaCoss pitched a 10-inning complete game shutout against the Los Angeles Dodgers on August 16, 1987; as of 2021, he remains the last Giants pitcher to throw more than nine innings in a game. In 1987 he was ninth in the National League with 13 wins. He appeared in the earthquake-marred

1989 World Series The 1989 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1989 season. The 86th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion Oakland Athletics and the Nat ...

with the Giants.

Career

An All-Star in 1979, LaCoss posted a 98–103 career record with 783

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

s and a 4.02

innings pitched In baseball, innings pitched (IP) are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher is on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one innin ...

. LaCoss recorded two

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s his entire career, in consecutive at-bats in 1986. The first was off

Dane Iorg Dane Charles Iorg ( ; born May 11, 1950) is an American former professional baseball first baseman and outfielder, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from (–) for four teams, including eight seasons spent with the St. Louis Cardinals. Whi ...

, a utility player who entered the game to pitch for the San Diego Padres near the end of an 18–1 Giants blowout. The next came off

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

ace

Tom Browning Thomas Leo Browning (April 28, 1960 – December 19, 2022) was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who played from 1984 to 1995, spending almost his entire career with the Cincinnati Reds. In his rookie season in 1985, Br ...

in the next game.

Personal life

Mike owned and operated Mike LaCoss Enterprises Inc, YESS Foundation, and a website called ibaseballchannel.

References

External links

National League All-Stars Cincinnati Reds players Houston Astros players Kansas City Royals players San Francisco Giants players Tampa Tarpons (1957–1987) players Major League Baseball pitchers 1956 births Living people Baseball players from California {{US-baseball-pitcher-1950s-stub