Chet Lemon, Triple All-Star of Baseball of the major leagues and member of the World Series Champion 1984 Detroit Tigersdied Thursday at the age of 70.
Lemon played 16 seasons in major leagues after the Oakland Athletics made him their choice of first round (n ° 22 in total) in the recovery of the MLB of 1976. He was exchanged to Chicago White Sox in 1975 and played seven seasons there. He led the American League with 44 doubles in 1979, hitting .318 with a .887 OPS, and was appointed star for the second consecutive year.
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In 1982, Lemon was exchanged to Tigers in exchange for Steve Kemp and immediately became a precious part of the Detroit range. Two seasons later, he had his best season with the Tigers, helping the team in a World Series title.
During his 1984 stars season, Lemon struck .287 with an Ops from .852, 20 circuits, 34 doubles and 76 points produced as champion of the Tigers center. In the World Series, he struck .294 / .368 / .294 with a product point and two stolen bases. His out -of -competition moment in the series was in match 3. In the seventh round, Lemon took a twist in the central field on a deep journey by Terry Kennedy of the San Diego Padres who initially seemed that he would pass his head.
Lemon played nine seasons with the Tigers, also helping to a stroke of an al East 1987 title with 30 doubles, 20 circuits, 75 points produced and an average .277 / .376 / .481.
He joined his 1984 teammates in Comerica Park in 2024 for the 40th anniversary of this World Series championship team and many learned his damaged physical condition. Since his retirement after the 1990 season, Lemon had suffered from several blood clots, hundreds of hospital visits and at least 13 brain vascular accidents that left him Impossible to walk or speak. It was a shocking development for so many people who remembered the athletics of Lemon in the central field.
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“I think it added a few more months,” said Lemon Gigi's wife told Detroit Free Press. “He could see his teammates. I thought it was so important.”
At the time, Gigi wanted the history of Lemon to be public so that fans did not know why he had not attended the birthday ceremony, if he had not been able to do it. In addition, the family wanted to raise awareness of aphasia, the post-AVC state which left him unable to speak.
As the tigers said in An official declarationLemon had his greatest impact on the field. His family launched the Chet Lemon Foundation To collect funds for strokes and Aphasia charitable organizations. The Foundation also benefits young sports, a passion for lemon, which led to young people's baseball and the Eustis high school in a Florida state championship.
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Lemon died at home in his sleep, according to Gigi.
During his 16 MLB seasons, Lemon finished with an average of career. 273 and 0.797 OPS, 1,875 strokes, 396 doubles, 215 circuits and 884 points produced in 1,988 games.
