A former Major League Baseball player who won the Cy Young Award as a pitcher in 1979 before becoming a broadcaster for his team, the Baltimore Orioles, has died in what is being reported as a suicide, reports Sportsnewser.com

According to the story, "Former Cy Young Award winner Mike Flanagan, a longtime pitcher with the Baltimore Orioles who later ascended to a top executive position with the club and in recent years served as a television commentator, reportedly committed suicide Wednesday afternoon, ‘despondent over what he considered a false perception from a community he loved of his role in the team’s prolonged failure,’ according to WBAL-TV sports director Gerry Sandusky.’ 

Flanagan, 59, was the general manager of the Orioles from 2002 to 2008.

Flanagan was found near his home in Monkton, Md.

Flanagan’s playing career spanned 18 years, in which he won 167 games — including 23 the year he won the Cy Young Award, 1979.

Peter Angelos, owner of the Baltimore Orioles, issued a statement, saying: "It is with deep sadness that I learned of the death of my friend Mike Flanagan earlier this evening. In over a quarter-century with the organization, Flanny became an integral part of the Orioles family, for his accomplishments both on and off the field. His loss will be felt deeply and profoundly by all of us with the ballclub and by Orioles fans everywhere who admired him. On behalf of the club, I extend my condolences to his wife, Alex; and daughters Kerry, Kathryn and Kendall.”

Mike Flanagan