Three-time All-Star center fielder Chet Lemon, who won a World Series with the 1984 Detroit Tigers, died Thursday at his home in Florida. He was 70.
“He was sleeping on his reclining sofa,” his wife, Gigi Lemon, told the Detroit Free Press. “He just wasn’t responsive.”
Lemon had battled a rare blood disease for the past three decades and had suffered a series of strokes, leaving him unable to walk or talk.
Lemon played seven seasons with the Chicago White Sox from 1975-81 and nine with the Tigers from 1982-90. He batted .273 with 215 homers, 884 RBIs, 973 runs and 1,875 hits in 1,988 games.
Lemon set a still-standing American League record for outfielders with 512 putouts during the 1977 season.
He led the American League with 44 doubles in 1979 and made the All-Star teams in 1978, 1979 and 1984.
Lemon batted .294 with a run, an RBI and two stolen bases against the San Diego Padres as Detroit won the 1984 World Series in five games.
“The Detroit Tigers join all of baseball in mourning the passing of Chet Lemon,” the team said. “While he was a World Series champion and All-Star on the field, perhaps his biggest impact came off of it. That includes creating the Chet Lemon Foundation and dedicating much of his post-playing career to youth baseball development.
“Our thoughts are with Chet’s family, friends and all those he coached, mentored and inspired.”
Lemon returned to the Motor City in September 2024 as the Tigers marked the 40th anniversary of that title. He was confined to a wheelchair but enjoyed the emotional reunion with his teammates, his wife said.
“You know how much you were a part of us,” former Tigers shortstop Alan Trammell told him, per the Detroit Free Press. “We wouldn’t have won it without you. You know that.”
Lemon was born in Jackson, Miss., but the family moved to Los Angeles when he was an infant. The Oakland Athletics selected him with the No. 22 overall pick in the 1972 draft out of L.A.’s Fremont High School.
–Field Level Media
