Lary Sorensen

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Lary Sorensen
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
MLB debut
June 7, 1977, for the Milwaukee Brewers
Last MLB appearance
September 24, 1988, for the San Francisco Giants
MLB statistics
Win–loss record93–103
Earned run average4.15
Strikeouts569
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Lary Alan Sorensen (born October 4, 1955) is an American former

Cleveland Indians (1982–1983), Oakland Athletics (1984), Chicago Cubs (1985), Montreal Expos (1987) and San Francisco Giants
(1988).

Baseball career

Sorensen attended the

1976 MLB Draft
.

In an 11-season career, Sorensen posted a 93–103 record with a 4.15

games (235 as a starter) totalling 1,736.1 innings pitched
.

In 1978, Sorensen won a career-high 18 games for the Brewers and made the American League All-Star team. He worked three innings and, after allowing a leadoff infield single to Larry Bowa, retired nine batters in a row: Reggie Smith, Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, George Foster, Greg Luzinski, Steve Garvey, Ted Simmons, Dave Winfield, and Bowa.

Sorensen ranked fifth in the A.L. in complete games in both 1978 (17) and 1979 (16). He led N.L. pitchers with 15 putouts in 1981.

For his career, Sorensen averaged 2.084 walks per nine innings pitched.

Drug and alcohol problems

On February 28, 1986, Sorensen and ten others were suspended for admitting during the Pittsburgh drug trials that they were involved in cocaine abuse. While seven were initially suspended for the entire season, Sorensen was given a shorter 60-day suspension. All eleven were allowed to forgo their suspension after agreeing to large anti-drug donations and community service.[2]

Sorensen's record of substance abuse continued after his playing days, including numerous DUI convictions. On October 16, 1999, he was picked up with a BAC of .35%.[3]

Sorensen's sixth offense resulted in a multi-year

BAC.[4]

Sorensen has been arrested for drunken driving seven times[5] and twice served time in prison; most recently being released in December 2009.[6]

Post-playing career

Sorensen became a broadcaster while still an active player, working as a sports reporter for WTMJ-TV Channel 4 in Milwaukee during the offseason. After his playing career ended, he served as a

color analyst for major league and college baseball games on ESPN from 1990 to 1994. From July 1994 to February 1995, he co-hosted a morning show called The Morning Battery with Butch Stearns on Detroit's WDFN Radio. He then went to Detroit's WJR radio, where he partnered with Frank Beckmann to call games for the Detroit Tigers Radio Network from 1995 to 1998. Sorensen left the Tigers in June 1998 for undisclosed personal reasons and was replaced by Jim Price
.

After serving his first prison sentence, Sorensen worked at a McDonald's restaurant in Roseville, Michigan, for three months. He also worked at a storage facility in St. Clair Shores, Michigan.

In 2014, Sorensen returned to broadcasting, providing radio color commentary for Wake Forest University baseball and television color commentary for the Winston-Salem Dash (Chicago White Sox Class High-A team in the Carolina League). He began doing radio color commentary for Wake Forest football in 2017.

See also

  • List of sportspeople sanctioned for doping offences

References

  1. ^ "Major League Baseball Players From the Cape Cod League" (PDF). capecodbaseball.org. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  2. ^ Cook, Ron. "The Eighties: A terrible time of trial and error," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Sept. 29, 2000).
  3. ^ Associated Press. "Sorenson arrested for drunk driving," Sports Illustrated (Dec. 01, 1999).
  4. ^ Girard, Fred (7 February 2008). "Ex-Tigers broadcaster in jail". Detroit News. p. 2D. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  5. ^ "Sorensen Busted for Another DUI," Zoner Sports (Feb. 2, 2008).
  6. ^ MDOC #469375, Michigan Department of Corrections website. Accessed May 16, 2014.

External links