Joseph Howard “Joe” Coleman (February 3, 1947-) is a retired right-handed pitcher who spent 15 seasons in Major League Baseball during the 1960s and 1970s, and at age 18 was the youngest player in the American League his rookie year. The Washington Senators (1965-1970) tapped Coleman in the 1st round (3rd overall) of the 1965 amateur draft, and debuted with the squad in September of that year. He held a 43-50 record for Washington with a 3.51 ERA before joining the Detroit Tigers (1971-1976), where he put together an 88-73 record and a 3.83 ERA, including winning 20 games in 1971. In 1972, he helped the Tigers win the 1972 American League Eastern Division, and also earned a spot on that year’s American League All-Star team (but did not appear in the game). He finished the season with a 19-14 record, and improved to a personal best 23-15 the following year. Coleman also played for the Chicago Cubs (1976), Oakland Athletics (1977-1978), Toronto Blue Jays (1978), San Francisco Giants (1979), and Pittsburgh Pirates (1979). He held the ALCS single game record of 14 strikeouts (tied by Mike Boddicker in 1983) from 1972 until 1997, when Mike Mussina of the Baltimore Orioles struck out 15 in a one game. In 15 big league seasons, Coleman had a 142-135 record and a 3.70 ERA in 484 games, with 340 games started, 94 complete games, and 18 shutouts. His father, Joe Coleman, Sr., pitched big league ball in the 1950s while his son, Casey Coleman, pitched for the Chicago Cubs in the early 2010s.
