Tigers All-Star, First Draft Pick to Appear in an MLB Game, Passes Away

Newsweek

10-07-2025

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The MLB Draft will celebrate its 60th anniversary next week, a tradition that traces to 1965. Joe Coleman wasn't the first player selected in the inaugural draft, but the pitcher taken third overall by the Washington Senators was the first-ever draft pick to reach the major leagues, less than four months after he was drafted out of Natick (Mass.) High School.
Coleman, whose father and son also played in the major leagues, died Wednesday at age 78.
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A right-handed pitcher, Coleman played 15 seasons at the MLB level for the Senators (1965-70), Detroit Tigers (1971-76), Chicago Cubs (1976), Oakland Athletics (1977-78), Toronto Blue Jays (1978), San Francisco Giants (1979) and Pittsburgh Pirates (1979).
American baseball pitcher Joe Coleman, of the Washington Senators, pictured at RFK Stadium in Washington, May 2, 1969.
American baseball pitcher Joe Coleman, of the Washington Senators, pictured at RFK Stadium in Washington, May 2, 1969.
UPI/Coleman retired with a career record of 142-135 and a 3.70 ERA. He twice won 20 games for the Tigers, in 1971 and 1973, and made his only career All-Star team in 1972.
The Senators used Coleman sparingly in his first two seasons following his rapid promotion. From 1967-70, he was a stalwart in the Washington rotation, going 40-50 with a 3.57 ERA.
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Coleman was traded to the Tigers in a memorable multi-player trade that sent former Cy Young Award winner Denny McLain to Washington in October 1970. He went on to enjoy the best years of his career in Detroit.
Although the Tigers lost to the A's in the 1972 American League Championship Series, Coleman tossed a complete game shutout in his only career postseason appearance — a potential elimination game — in Game 3 of the series.
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Overall, Coleman went 88-73 with a 3.82 ERA in 203 regular-season games (201 starts) for the Tigers.
After retiring as a player, Coleman enjoyed a long career as a coach and scout. He was the St. Louis Cardinals' pitching coach under Joe Torre from 1991-94, and held the same role for the California Angels in 1996. He later worked as the Angels' bullpen coach, and a minor league pitching coach for the Rays, Tigers and Marlins.
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The Marlins awarded Coleman as their "Player Development Person of the Year" in 2013, and kept him on as a senior advisor after he retired from full-time coaching.
"He was a good man with a really good heart," his son, Casey Coleman, told The Intelligencer. "Everywhere I went in professional baseball, I met pitchers he coached. Many gave him credit for making it to the big leagues."
The Colemans — Casey, Joe, and the elder Joe Coleman, who pitched for three teams from 1942-55 — are the first three-generation family of pitchers in MLB history.
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