Joe Coleman was a solid big-league pitcher. His father, also Joe, had been one for the Philadelphia Athletics in the 1940s and '50s.
The younger Coleman was in the Washington Senators' rotation for four years, and then was traded to Detroit in October 1970 as part of the deal that brought Denny McLain to Washington. Coleman was then a mainstay for the Tigers, winning 20 games in 1971 and 1973, and pitching more than 280 innings every year from 1971-74. His performance fell off in 1975, due to some shoulder tightness, and in June of 1976, Detroit sold him to the Cubs.
After bouncing through three more major league teams, Coleman signed with the Pirates' Triple-A affiliate in Portland on May 8, 1979. This didn't merit a mention in either The Pittsburgh Press or the Post-Gazette.
He pitched in relief for the Beavers, going 5-1 with three saves and a 2.65 ERA in 32 appearances. With the Pirates scheduled to play three doubleheaders in the five days after the All-Star break, and both Jim Rooker and Don Robinson banged up, they purchased Coleman's contract from Portland during the break. General manager Pete Peterson told the pitcher, "You may be here a week, or two weeks, or two years." Chuck Tanner said, "I'll use him in relief." The Bucs sent their designated runner, Matt Alexander, to Double-A Buffalo to create the roster spot.
Coleman's first appearance was in the third of those doubleheaders, when he pitched the ninth inning of the second game on July 23. The Braves led 6-0, and after Coleman gave up two unearned runs, Atlanta had a doubleheader split with Phil Niekro's 8-0 win. It ended the Pirates' winning streak at nine games.
The next night, Bruce Kison gave up four runs in the first inning. Coleman came in to finish the first, and pitched 3 2/3 shutout innings. Lee Lacy batted for him after the Pirates scored three in the fourth, and reached on a forceout. He ran on the 3-2 count as Omar Moreno walked. Johnny Bench threw to second and umpire Dick Stello called Lacy out. So Lacy left the base, and Dave Concepcion tagged him out. The subsequent argument that it was Stello's fault, not Lacy's, lasted 34 minutes, and ended with a protest, which wasn't upheld.
The Pirates trailed, 4-3, at that point, and went on to lose, 6-5.
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Phil Musick's column in the July 25 Post-Gazette was about Coleman.
"I know I can help this club," Coleman told Musick. "I hope they realize it. I know I'm getting back to where I was. I'll match my recent stats against anyone's. I honestly feel I can pitch another two years. I'm throwing harder for one thing. And my forkball, which is my big pitch, is better because your shoulder is stronger. I know if I can get that pitch over the plate, I can get anyone out, in any situation."
Coleman added, "The physical problems our pitchers are having control my destiny. But I know I can help. I can protect all the other pitchers because I can pitch every day if necessary."
Musick wrote:
"Given a chance to help against the Reds last night, he did about as much as could be asked. ... Along the way, he got the first hit off Cincinnati starter Fred Norman, a double to straightaway center. Running it out, he looked like a 32-year-old."
"I wandered in here," said Coleman, "because they were looking for a guy with experience rather than having to go with a young kid. I can take care of myself better than a younger pitcher. And I've been there before."
'There' was the pennant race, in which Coleman had participated with the 1972 Tigers.
"This club has as good a chance as any," he said.
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On July 26, Coleman faced the Reds again when Dave Roberts had a bad start. After Cincinnati tied the game, 5-5, in the third, Coleman came in with a man on second and nobody out. He gave up Roberts' sixth run before getting out of the inning. In the fourth, the Reds scored two more runs off Coleman. He left for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the fourth with the score 8-5, and the Bucs went on to lose their fourth in a row, 9-7. (United Artists' Cable Systems Television re-united longtime Pirate announcers Bob Prince and Jim Woods in the Three Rivers broadcast booth for this game, although the channel wasn't available locally.)
Coleman's next appearance was in the first game of a doubleheader against the Phillies at Three Rivers on Aug. 5. He entered the game in the fifth inning after Bert Blyleven gave up a grand slam to Greg Luzinski to make the score 7-3. Coleman immediately allowed Del Unser to hit another home run before retiring the next three hitters to get out of the inning. The Pirates scored three in the bottom of the fifth off Steve Carlton, and after Coleman got the Phils out in the sixth, Tanner pinch-hit for him in the bottom of the inning. The Pirates ended up winning the game, 12-8, on John Milner's pinch-grand slam off Tug McGraw, and they went on to a five-game series sweep.
The series left the Pirates a half-game ahead of the Expos for first in the division, while defending champion Philadelphia was fourth, eight games behind.
The team's next game was in Chicago two days later. On a 90-degree afternoon, Rooker fell behind, 5-1, in the third, and with two on and one out, Coleman came in and proceeded to let Rooker's two runners score, as well as allowing an unearned run of his own.
The Pirates scored one in the fourth, but Coleman gave it right back. He then stayed in to absorb the rest of the beating. The Cubs scored in each of Coleman's innings but the sixth on their way to a 15-2 win for Rick Reuschel. In 5 1/3 innings, Coleman gave up nine runs (eight earned) on 13 hits, with four walks, four strikeouts and one hit batsman.
"It was my decision as much as Chuck's," Coleman said afterward. "If we had started to come back, I'm sure he'd have pinch-hit for me. As it was, it was, 'just try to get the game over.' Chuck asked me how I felt a couple of times, and I said all right. I wanted to stay out there. I didn't mind."
"We've played five games in three days, two doubleheaders," Tanner said, referring to the Phillies series.
"I feel like I saved a few guys," Coleman added. "You never know who we will need for the bullpen in tomorrow's game. I'm on this ballclub for that very reason to protect those other guys in the bullpen."
When reporters asked him about "mopping up," Coleman replied, "I realize my position. I know I can pitch in close games, too. But with the three guys we have in the bullpen (Enrique Romo, Grant Jackson and Kent Tekulve), I know I'm not going to get much of a chance to pitch in tight games. Today, it was a matter of going as long as I could. And you know, I wasn't really upset with the way I pitched."
Coleman concluded, "I hope it doesn't hurt my situation. I showed them I could go out on a day like this."
"No," said Tanner, "this doesn't hurt his chances."
The headline on the story in the next day's Press was "Cubs Chew Up Pirates But Coleman Saves Day."
Before the team's 2009 reunion, Joe Starkey talked to some Pirates about Coleman's appearance against the Cubs for the Tribune-Review:
"Our bullpen was beat up, and Joe knew that," Tekulve says. "Every inning, he's getting more and more exhausted. He's throwing a ton of pitches, and it's hotter than heck. He's sweating buckets. He's got a towel over his head in the dugout. It got to the point where you were literally worried about him."
Tekulve offered to pitch the eighth and final inning. Tanner rebuffed him. Bert Blyleven, a staple in the rotation, then went up to Coleman and said he would pitch the eighth. Coleman said no.
"We had a chance to win a pennant, and I had never gotten to the World Series," recalls Coleman, pitching coach for the Tigers' Class A affiliate in Lakeland, Fla. "I said, 'Hell, this might be my last chance, and we need all the troops rested and ready to go.' "
When Coleman fairly staggered off the mound at the end of the eighth inning, Tanner greeted him on the dugout steps and said, "You just won the pennant for us!"
"We tip our hat to Joe Coleman," says (Dave) Parker, who needed no prodding to remember Coleman's outing, labeling it, "the incident."
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The next Coleman appearance came in Philadelphia Aug. 11. Once again, Rooker struggled, and Coleman entered in the third inning of NBC's Game of the Week with the Phillies leading, 5-0, with two on and one out. Once again, he allowed both runners to score and allowed a run of his own. He kept the Phils scoreless in the fourth and fifth, and after Pittsburgh scored five in the top of the fifth, they pinch-hit for Coleman in the sixth with the score 8-5. The Pirates scored five in the eighth, four on Ed Ott's grand slam, and went on to win, 14-11.
On Aug. 17, the Dodgers were at Three Rivers. The Pirates pinch-hit for Jim Bibby when they were down, 5-0, in the third. They scored two runs, and Coleman came in and pitched a 1-2-3 fourth. Lacy pinch-hit for him in the bottom of the inning. After Roberts allowed the Los Angeles lead to reach 7-2, the Bucs mounted another comeback, but came up short, losing, 7-6.
Coleman was then idle until Sept. 6 in St. Louis. When Bibby and Jackson allowed the Cardinals to take a 7-3 lead in the bottom of the fourth, Coleman came in with a man on first and two out and struck out Ken Reitz. When the Pirates mounted a rally in the fifth, they pinch-hit for Coleman. The Redbirds held on for an 8-6 win.
The next night at Shea Stadium, Coleman came in after the Pirates pinch-hit for Tekulve in the 11th. He loaded the bases, then got Alex Trevino to ground to Bill Madlock at third, who got the force at the plate. Jackson then came in and got out of the inning, and pitched the remainder of the game as Pittsburgh won, 6-4, in 14 innings.
Coleman's final appearance of the season was in the second game of a doubleheader against Montreal on Sept. 24. He relieved Roberts in the sixth with the Pirates winning, 6-3, two on and nobody out. He got out of the inning, pitched a scoreless seventh, and walked two after a flyout in the eighth. Tekulve came in, after having pitched three effective innings in the first game, and allowed both of Coleman's runners to score before giving up another run to tie the game. The Expos won, 7-6, to split the doubleheader, remaining a half-game ahead in the East.
Of course, the Pirates ended up winning the division, and went on to win the World Series. Coleman wasn't on the postseason roster. The Detroit Free Press' Jim Hawkins had him pitching batting practice in a column about the raucous Pirates:
Obviously, the Pirates' craziness is contagious. Even normally mild-mannered Joe Coleman, who is Pittsburgh's batting practice pitcher, has gotten into the act. Coleman, still incensed because I labeled him a loser when the Tigers discarded him three summers ago, spotted me in the Pirates' dugout the other day and immediately began foaming at the mouth. "I said I was going to strangle you the next time I saw you," he screamed. "But I've mellowed. Now I'm going to use a knife instead." And, up and down the bench, his Pittsburgh Pirates' teammates laughed. It was the type of performance they have come to expect from one another.
Coleman's final statistics as a Pirate were 10 games, 20.2 innings, 29 hits, 9 walks, and 14 strikeouts. He was 0-0 with a 6.10 ERA, and had one hit in five at-bats. Coleman entered one game with the lead, two that were tied, and seven where the Bucs were behind. Pittsburgh won three of those games. He gave up runs in six of his ten appearances.
Before October was over, Peterson had told Coleman that he wouldn't be back in 1980. That was the end of Joe Coleman's major league career. His teammates voted him a half-share of the playoff money.
Coleman was the pitching coach for Triple-A Spokane from 1980-82, and he pitched in 40 games over those three seasons. He continued to coach after that, including in the major leagues from 1987-99 with the Angels and Cardinals. In 2016, the Marlins promoted Coleman to senior advisor of pitching development. He's no longer listed in the Marlins' organization.
His son Casey pitched for the Cubs for 2010-12, and for the Royals in 2014. He's still hanging on in professional baseball.
Starkey:
He was in the clubhouse when the Pirates won Game 7 of the World Series at Baltimore. You better believe he was rewarded with a World Series ring.
He wears it nearly every day.
"On the ring, it says, 'We Are Family,' " Coleman says. "And that's exactly what it was: a family."
(All quotes are from the original coverage. No thanks to Google for making the News Archive more difficult to use.)
