Jim Corsi, former A’s pitcher, dies at 60

Former Oakland A’s pitcher Jim Corsi died Tuesday morning at age 60.

Per Steve Burton of WBZ TV (CBS) in Boston, Corsi “passed away from cancer peacefully overnight with his family by his side.”

Two days prior, Corsi publicly revealed that he’d been diagnosed with stage IV cancer of the liver and colon. Click here to watch his emotional interview with Burton, in which he talks about being at peace and spending as much time with his family as possible, and also urges everybody to be diligent about getting a colonoscopy.

Corsi spent 10 seasons in the majors, including three stints with the Oakland A’s. He played half his career with Oakland, and did some of his best work here.

The right-handed reliever made his MLB debut in 1988 wearing green-and-gold. He pitched well for the A’s for two seasons, winning a championship ring in 1989, though he didn’t appear in the playoffs either year. He headed to the Astros after that, but returned to Oakland in 1992 and had a great summer with a 1.43 ERA, earning him his first postseason duty with three scoreless outings in the ALCS. He was then selected by the brand-new Marlins in their expansion draft, but came back to the A’s yet again in 1995 for two more strong years.

• Corsi, OAK career: 2.75 ERA, 222⅓ ip, 119 Ks, 94 BB, 13 HR, 4.01 FIP, 157 ERA+

After his final stint in Oakland, the Massachusetts native spent a few seasons with the Red Sox, and briefly the Orioles in 1999, before retiring.

• Corsi, MLB career: 3.25 ERA, 481⅓ ip, 290 Ks, 191 BB, 33 HR, 3.96 FIP, 133 ERA+

Longtime friend and former teammate Dennis Eckersley said the following about Corsi, in an obituary by Michael Silverman of the Boston Globe:

“He’s not just your friend, he had like 24 other friends on the team, and not too many guys have that. Jim was as friendly as anything to everybody.”

Bay Area sportswriter Carl Steward described Corsi as “one of the truly good guys on the A’s in their late 1980s heyday” in a tweet Tuesday.