New York baseball has lost an icon.
Mel Stottlemyre, an ace pitcher for the Yankees in the 1960s and a premier pitching coach on World Series champions for both the Mets and Yankees, passed away at the age of 77 after a long fight with bone marrow cancer, NBC 4 reported Monday.
Stottlemyre was a five-time All-Star who won 20 games three times before becoming a pitching guru who helped mold the likes of Doc Gooden, Ron Darling, Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte. Stottlemyre, who played for only one team, the Yankees, from 1964-76, was honored with a plaque in Monument Park by the Yankees on Old-Timers’ Day on June 20, 2015.