R.I.P.

Mel Stottlemyre, New York Baseball Star, Dies at 77

The five-time All-Star died after a long battle with bone-marrow cancer.

Mel Stottlemyre, a New York baseball legend, died Sunday in Seattle, Washington, after a long battle with bone-marrow cancer. He was 77 years old. A five-time All-Star and three-time 20-game winner for the Yankees, Stottlemyre was first diagnosed with multiple myeloma, for which there is no cure, in the spring of 1999. He underwent an experimental treatment for the disease that included a stem-cell transplant, four months of chemotherapy, and as many as 24 pills a day, after which doctors told him there was still no way of knowing if or when the disease would come back. Stottlemyre coached Doc Gooden, Ron Darling, Sid Fernandez, Andy Pettitte, and Roger Clemens among others as one of the pre-eminent pitching coaches in baseball. In 2015, the Yankees presented him with a plaque in Monument Park. “If I never get to come to another Oldtimers Day, I will take these memories and I’ll start another baseball club, coaching up there, whenever they need me,” Stottlemyre said in an emotional speech.

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