Lary Sorensen

Lary Alan Sorensen (born October 4, 1955 in Detroit, Michigan) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who played for the Milwaukee Brewers (1977–1980), St. Louis Cardinals (1981), Cleveland Indians (1982–1983), Oakland Athletics (1984), Chicago Cubs (1985), Montreal Expos (1987) and San Francisco Giants (1988).

Baseball career

In an 11-season career, Sorensen posted a 93–103 record with 569 strikeouts, 10 shutouts, and a 4.15 ERA in 346 games pitched (235 as a starter).

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, Sorenson 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.

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%. One month later, he was arrested for a .24% BAC.

Sorensen's sixth offense resulted in a multi-year prison sentence. On February 2, 2008, he was found by police unconscious in his car in a ditch off 23 Mile Road in Chesterfield, Michigan. He had a .48 BAC and alcohol poisoning. One expert said that half of the population would die with a BAC that high.

Sorensen has been arrested for drunken driving seven times , and has been to prison twice for it. Most recently being released from prison in December 2009.

Broadcasting

Sorensen became a broadcaster while still an active player, working as a sports reporter for WTMJ-TV channel 4 in Milwaukee during the off-season. After his playing career ended, he began working as a color analyst for major league and college baseball games on ESPN. 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. Sorensen left the Tigers' job in June 1998 for undisclosed personal reasons, and was replaced by Jim Price.

Post-broadcasting

After serving a 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 and had hopes to get back to broadcasting. He stated this information at East Detroit High School while speaking to health classes there about alcoholism.

Family

Sorensen was married for twenty-four years before his alcoholism and drug addiction led to divorce.

His son was formerly a pitcher for the Michigan State University baseball team. He was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in June 2008 and is currently pitching in their minor league system.

His daughter, Laura (born 1982), formerly ran a youth program in Ferndale, Michigan. She has since left Michigan.

Highlights

• In 1978 won a career-high 18 games for the Brewers and made the American League All-Star team.

See also

• List of sportspeople sanctioned for doping offences

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference