Rick Mahler dead from heart attack

[DSGB]

VIERA, Fla. (AP) — Rick Mahler, who won nearly 100 games during a 13-year career spent mostly with the Atlanta Braves, died Wednesday. He was 51.

Mahler died of a heart attack in Jupiter, Fla., while preparing for his second season as a minor league pitching coach for the New York Mets, the team said. He was set to join the Mets' Class A team in Port St. Lucie.

Mets pitcher Tom Glavine telephoned the Braves to inform them of his former teammate's death shortly before Atlanta played Georgia Tech in its first exhibition game of the spring.

"I didn't know he had any type of problem," Braves manager Bobby Cox said. "Maybe he didn't, either. It's awful."

Mahler pitched in the majors from 1979-91, going 96-111 with a 3.99 ERA. His best season came in 1985, when he went 17-15 for the Braves. The next year, he led the majors with 18 losses.

The right-hander started on opening day for the Braves five times in the 1980s, including the first game of the '82 season, when Atlanta went on to win the NL West title. Mahler made four straight opening-day starts beginning in 1985.

Cox was manager of the Braves through the 1981 season and returned to the team as general manager in 1986, reuniting him with Mahler during a dismal time in the team's history.

"Rick was a great competitor," Cox said. "He could pitch."

Mahler pitched twice in the playoffs — with the Braves in 1982 and in 1990 with the Cincinnati team that went on to win the World Series.