The baseball world reacts to the passing of Mel Stottlemyre

After the announcement of Mel Stottlemyre’s death this afternoon at the age of 77, a tidal wave of tributes came in for the former Mets and Yankees pitching coach. Through his 50-plus years in the game, Stottlemyre left a lasting impact on every player and organization that he worked for and worked with.

Along with an official tribute tweet from the Mets account and a statement from the ownership, former players such as David Cone, Ken Singleton, Dwight Gooden, Ron Darling, and Howard Johnson expressed their condolences, calling Stottlemyre “a father figure”, “one of the classiest men I have ever known” and “a dear friend”.

On the team side of things, the Diamondbacks, Mariners, Yankees, all posted tributes from their accounts. Other names from around the league that shared their thoughts on Stottlemyre’s passing include Jon Heyman, Michael Kay, Buster Olney, Chris Russo, Johnny Bench, Joe Torre, Mike Francesa, and Lindsay Berra.

Two other prominent names that mourned the loss of Stottlemyre are actor and former Yankee (for a day) Billy Crystal and United States Senator Chuck Schumer.