Denny McLain

At 80 years old, Denny McLain has this physical status:

Dennis Dale McLain (born March 29, 1944) is an American professional baseball player.

He was a pitcher in Major League Baseball for ten seasons, most notably for the Detroit Tigers.

McLain's 1968 breakthrough made him the most popular Major League Baseball pitcher to win 30 or more games in a season (with a record of 31–6), sparking controversies by criticizing teammates and supporters with no provocation.

Two Cy Young awards and an American League MVP award followed his stellar debut in his major league career.

His baseball career was in sharp contrast to his personal life, where he was involved with organized crime and was later found guilty of embezzlement, which culminated in time in jail.

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Professional playing career

McLain was born in Markham, Illinois, and attended Mt. He played for Carmel High School in Chicago, where he served on the baseball team as a shortstop and pitcher. Sharyn Boudreau, the daughter of major league player Lou Boudreau, met him as an adolescent. McLain was also a natural performer, learning to play the organ from his father.

McLain was signed by the Chicago White Sox as an amateur free agent and recruited to play with the Appalachian League's Harlan Smokies. In a game against the Salem Rebels on June 28, McLain had a dazzling debut in his minor league professional baseball debut, tossing out 16 batters and throwing out 16 batters. He was promoted to the Clinton C-Sox of the Midwest League after only two games with the Smokies, where he had a record of four victories and seven losses.

At the time, players with one year of participation in the minor leagues were considered a draft if they were not called up to the major leagues. McLain was drafted off waivers by the Detroit Tigers on April 8, 1963, and the White Sox cut him off in the minor leagues. He grew rapidly through the Tigers' minor league system, going from Class A Duluth-Superior to Class AA Knoxville over the summer. The Tigers had enough promise to advance him from Class AA to the majors, and he made his major league debut on September 21, 1963 at the age of 19. His debut against the Chicago White Sox was almost as impressive as his minor-league debut, with the White Sox down to one earned run on seven hits. He also picked off two baserunners and struck a home run, his first home run of his major-league career. McLain is one of only six teenage pitchers to make it to a major-league home run since 1920, with a list that includes Hall-of-Famers Don Drysdale and Jim Palmer.

McLain played for the Syracuse Chiefs of the International League in 1964, but was called back to the major leagues in early June and ended the season with a win-loss record of 4–5. He appeared with the Mayagüez Indians in the Puerto Rico Baseball League, where he set a 13-2 record and helped the Indians win the league championship. In 1965, he was called back to the majors and continued to pitch well for the Tigers. McLain struck out the first seven batters he faced after stepping out of the game in the first inning to relieve starting pitcher Dave Wickersham on June 15, setting a major-league record for relief pitchers. He ended the season with a 16-26 record, a 2.61 earned run average, and 192 strikeouts, the third-highest strikeout total in the American League behind Sam McDowell and teammate Mickey Lolich. Despite having a curveball and a makeover, he relied mostly on his fastball to get batters out.

McLain had a 13–4 record in his career as a starting pitcher in the 1966 All-Star Game, where he retired all nine batters he faced. He ended the season with a 20-14 record and a 3.92 earned run average.

Johnny Sain, the Tigers' former major league pitcher, was hired as their pitching coach in 1967. Sain assisted with McLain's pitching abilities and taught him the art of pitching. The 1967 season was a memorable one due to the tight four-way pennant competition between the Tigers, the Boston Red Sox, the Minnesota Twins, and the Chicago White Sox. McLain finished with a 17-16 record and a 3.79 earned run average, but after August 29, the team was winless. McLain revealed on September 18 that he had seriously injured two toes on his left foot, adding that he had stubbed them after their foot fell asleep. The Tigers needed a victory over the California Angels to ensure a one-game playoff for the American League pennant. In the last game, McLain pitched ineffectively, and the Tigers lost by a game to finish the season one game behind the Red Sox.

The Tigers were in first place six games into the 1968 season after losing the opener. In early May, McLain made controversial remarks by chastising Detroit fans as "the world's best front-running followers." He continued to win games at a breakneck pace, winning his 29th match on September 10. He appeared on Time's cover on September 13, 1993. McLain pitched the Tigers to a 5–4 victory over the Oakland Athletics on September 14 in front of a nationally televised audience, becoming the first 30-game winner since 1934. Dizzy Dean, the previous 30-game champion, was on hand to congratulate him.

McLain pitched his 31st and final regular season win in a game against the Yankees on September 19, adding to his penchant for notoriety after the Tigers had clinched the 1968 American League pennant. Mickey Mantle, a center fielder for the New York Yankees, was idolized by the youngster, who appeared in the game tied with Jimmie Foxx for third place in the major-league career home runs rankings. When Mantle, a nine days away from his last major league appearance, came home to bat in the eighth inning with the Tigers leading 6-1, McLain deliberately threw a softball directly over home plate. According to other reports, he called catcher Jim Price to the mound and had him tell Mantle that he would only be throwing fastballs. Mantle pitched for his 535th home run (the penultimate home run Mantle would hit in his career), putting him in sole possession of third place on the all-time home run list, behind only Babe Ruth and Willie Mays. McLain stood on the pitcher's mound and applauded as Mantle raced around the bases. As he rounded the bases, Mantle tipped his hat to McLain. Joe Peeone, the next batter, waved his bat over the plate as if looking for a simple pitch of his own. McLain responded by tossing Pepitone's head with the next pitch. McLain denying that he had pitched up a quick pitch for Mantle to strike; however, Major League Baseball Commissioner William Eckert reprimanded him.

The Tigers captured the American League pennant by 12 games, with McLain completing a 31–6 record and a 1.96 earned run average. He had 280 strikeouts and 63 walks, giving him a 4.44 K:BB ratio, a Tigers season record that wasn't broken by Justin Verlander until 2016. McLain won his second All-Star Award as well as the American League Most Valuable Player Award in 1968, the first by an American League pitcher since Bobby Shantz in 1952, and the first by a Tiger since fellow pitcher Hal Newhouser's back-to-back recognition in 1944 and 1945. He was the first pitcher in American League history to win both the Most Valuable Player Award and the Cy Young Award in the same season. In 1968, St. Louis Cardinal Bob Gibson earned the National League's Most Valuable Player Award for the first year, making 1968 the only season in which a pitcher earned the MVP Award in both leagues to date.

McLain's participation in the Tigers' 1968 World Series victory over the Cardinals was not as good as his normal season. McLain lost twice to Gibson (including a new World Series record of 17-strike out in the opener) before losing three games to one during the regular season. McLain won Game 6 on two days' rest after losing three games to two, aided by Jim Northrup's grand slam home run. During the series, teammate Mickey Lolich won three games, including a complete victory over Gibson in Game 7 and the World Series MVP award. When McLain was asked about Lolich's appearance in the World Series, he replied vehemently by saying, "I wouldn't trade one Bob Gibson for 12 Mickey Loliches."

Both leagues' batting averages and run numbers dropped last season, making the season "Year of the Pitcher." The major leagues increased the size of the strike zone from the top of the batter's shoulder to the bottom of the knees during Roger Maris' record home run year in 1961. Other hitters, such as McLain and Gibson, dominated the field, with 339 shutouts in 1968. Carl Yastrzemski was the only American League hitter with a batting average above.300 on the season. Gibson's earned run average was 1.12 percent, the lowest in 54 years, while Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Don Drysdale threw a record-tying innings during the 1968 season. Major League Baseball took steps to eliminate pitchers' advantage by lowering the height of the pitcher's mound from 15 inches to 10, as a result of the league's shrinking, and also reduced the size of the strike zone for the 1969 season. Since then, no pitcher has won more than 27 games in a season.

McLain was named as the year's best male athlete of the year in January 1969. In the 1969 All-Star Game in Washington, D.C., he caused more chaos when he was named as the starting pitcher for the American League, but he missed the game due to a dental visit in Detroit. The appointment had been scheduled for Wednesday, the day after the All-Star game, but the game was postponed on the 23rd due to a rainout on the date.

McLain was a nonconformist and liked to play by his own rules. He had learnt to fly and bought an airplane. He recovered from his dental visit and then flew himself to Washington, arriving in Washington during the second inning. In the fourth inning, he pitched in the fourth inning, but by then, the National League had already established a 9–2 lead.

McLain provoked more dissatisfaction when he clashed with Tigers' boss Mayo Smith over the latter's dismissal of Johnny Sain as the team's pitching coach. Despite the hardships, McLain had another good season in 1969, winning 24 games and a second straight Cy Young Award, tying with Baltimore's Mike Cuellar, marking the first time two players had shared the award. It was the last award of his major league career.

Sports Illustrated and Penthouse published articles about McLain's involvement in bookmaking in February 1970. Sports Illustrated cited accounts who said McLain's foot injury, which was caused by an organized crime figure who stomped on McLain's foot as punishment for refusing to pay off on a lost bet. McLain's enthusiasm in betting on horses was ignited early in his career by Chuck Dressen, one of his first managers. McLain's slump into his gambling addiction was triggered by an offhand remark made during a talk: he drank about a case of Pepsi a day earlier. (He pitched) (He was known to drink a Pepsi between innings.) A Pepsi representative escorted McLain to a job with the firm, but only for doing a few endorsements. McLain soon discovered that he and the Pepsi representative shared an addiction to gambling; when the two discovered how much money they were losing and that they might gain so much more by "taking the action" on bets, they set up a bookmaking company as hands-off, silent partners.

By Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, McLain was suspended indefinitely, but the suspension was then extended for the first three months of the 1970 season. He returned in mid-season but he didn't do well. After he diduse sportswriters Jim Hawkins of the Detroit Free Press and Watson Spoelstra of the Detroit News with buckets of water in September, the Tigers suspended him for seven days. Kuhn had been banned from carrying a rifle on a team flight for at least the seven days as the seven-day suspension was about to conclude. McLain's 1970 season came to an end with a win-loss record of only 3–5. Despite being the first $100,000 player in Tigers history, he was forced into bankruptcy later this year. In the meantime, McLain and his colleague Jim Northrup co-scheduled to earn more money, and they were back in Detroit, executing a scheme that they revealed to create a nude baseball model calendar. These attempts came to a halt.

The Tigers traded McLain, Elliott Maddox, Norm McRae, and Don Wert to the Washington Senators for Joe Coleman, Eddie Brinkman, Jim Hannan, and Aurelio Rodrez on October 9, 1970. Kuhn had to terminate the deal because McLain was already suspended, and banned players cannot be traded without permission of the commissioner. Kuhn continued to be surprised by the Senators' "foolish bet" and predicted that the trade would be a Tiger heist in his autobiography, "The Education of a Baseball Commissioner" later in his autobiography.

Senator Ted Williams, who had no patience for McLain's high cost of living, was pushed out of the McLain trade. The feeling was mutual; McLain became a charter member of the "Underminers' Club" in the 1971 season, a group of five players dedicated to getting Williams fired. Williams' use of a then-unusual five-man rotation for his starters sparked a lot of controversy during the season. When Williams yanked McLain early from a July 5 game against the Cleveland Indians, Senator Shelby Whitfield told Rob Neyer that she wanted to call Senator Bob Short and get him to let him get rid of Williams.

By this time, McLain had serious arm pain, which was inadvertently aggravated by a series of cortisone shots he took for his sore arm. He basically stopped throwing fastballs midway through the 1971 season as a result. McLain went 10–22, owing to his arm problems and his inability to get along with Williams. He went from leading his league in victories (tied with Mike Cuellar in 1969) to a two-year losing streak in his division. McLain's 22 losses (a record set by three pitchers later in 1974) is the most in a major-league season since Jack Fisher of the Mets lost 24 in 1965.

McLain was traded to the Oakland Athletics for journeyman pitcher Jim Panther and prospect Don Stanhouse (who went on to have a few good years as the Baltimore Orioles' closer in the late 1970s) following the 1971 season. The Athletics sent him to the minor leagues on May 15. He had only five starts, one win, and a 6.04 ERA. According to the Associated Press, the reasons for the dismissal were "pitches that lack heat and a medical problem." Orlando Cepeda was traded to the Atlanta Braves on June 29, but he went only 3–5 for Atlanta, and his overall numbers for 1972 were 4–7 with a 6.37 ERA. He appeared in the ninth inning tie for the first time before giving up three runs without retiring a batter, resulting in the loss. (Coincidentally, Pete Rose, the last batter McLain ever faced in the major leagues, was also involved in a gambling scandal years later.) McLain was released by the Braves in spring training on March 26, 1973. McLain retired after brief stints with minor-league clubs in Des Moines and Shreveport. He was out of baseball for the second time in two years after winning his second straight Cy Young.

Music career

McLain's success on the playing field resulted in collaborations with the Hammond Organ Company; he also performed in Las Vegas. On The Ed Sullivan Show, he and his World Series competitor (and guitarist) Bob Gibson were invited to appear with his musical quartet. McLain has also appeared on The Steve Allen Exhibition and The Joey Bishop Show. Denny McLain at the Organ (1968) and Denny McLain in Las Vegas (1969) were among his many hits on Capitol Records, Denny McLain at the Organ (1968) and Denny McLain in Las Vegas (1969).

Career statistics

McLain has won 131 games against 91 losses in a 10-year big-league career. His career run average was 3.39, with 1,282 strikeouts in 1,886 innings pitched. McLain, a three-time All-Star and two-time Cy Young Award winners, received the Cy Young Award twice in his career. He depended so much on his fastball, he's also lost multiple home runs, leading the American League in home runs allowed in three years (1966-1968).

Only two other pitchers have reached the 30-game mark in McLain's 31-win season (Steve Carlton won 27 games in 1972 and Bob Welch had 27 victories in 1990). Some analysts believe another 30-game winner will not be a winner in Major League Baseball, with McLain's four-man rotations transitioning to five-man rotations, and the increased reliance on relief pitchers.

Post-major league career

McLain played for the London Majors of the Intercounty Baseball League in 1974. He played in Labatt Memorial Park in London, Ontario. McLain pitched only nine innings for the Majors due to his arm injuries, but he played in 14 games at shortstop, first base, or catcher, including hitting two home runs in one game in London.

McLain's earnings continued to grow at clubs, including a club in suburban Detroit, where former heavyweight boxing champion Leon Spinks served as a bartender. McLain also made a fair amount of money hustling golf, with his prior baseball success. In addition, he reportedly paid over $160,000 to fly a wanted felon out of the country.

During McLain's post-baseball career, his weight increased to 330 pounds (150 kg). He was arrested for drug trafficking (cocaine), embezzlement, and racketeering. Attorneys Arnold Levine and Stevan Northcutt, who later became a Florida state appellate judge, represented McLain in the Eleventh Circuit in Atlanta. In the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, his conviction was reversed under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

McLain appeared on several talk radio sports shows and occasionally on network television in the Detroit area; he also modeled Hanes underwear from his time in jail and rehabilitation in the mid-1980s to early 1990s; he also appeared on some talk radio sports shows and occasionally on panel-format sports shows; he also modeled Hanes underwear. He could also be seen signing autographs at a Metro Detroit 7-Eleven store on the corner of Mound Road and Metro Parkway in Sterling Heights, Michigan, where he was based on work-release. On Detroit talk radio station WXYT, he hosted a famous daily talk radio show since his debut.

Kristin, McLain's youngest daughter, was killed in a drunk driving crash on March 20, 1992. She had been living in Florida and was heading back to Michigan after being killed just a few miles from her parents' house. McLain and several others acquired the Peet Packing Company (Farmer Peet's), which is located in the tiny town of Chesaning, Michigan, in 1994, in part to escape his grief. McLain was also a founding member of the Michigan Radio Network. Two years ago, both companies went bankrupt. In 1996, he was found guilty of embezzlement, mail fraud, and conspiracy in connection with the embethnet workers' pension fund's theft of $2.5 million. McLain spent six years in jail, but today, he maintains he was unaware of the government's unethical financial transactions. McLain says he restitutionized for the occurrence.

McLain, the baseball analyst for Drew and Mike on WRIF radio in Detroit, was the baseball analyst for Drew and Mike during the 2006 playoff run. McLain's autobiography, I Told You I Wasn't Perfect, was released in 2007, co-authored by longtime Detroit sportscaster and author Eli Zaret. In Detroit, McLain and Zaret hosted a sports television show together.

McLain and his partner, Sharyn, now live in Pinckney, Michigan. Sharyn had divorced Denny during his most recent detention, but remarried him after his release. McLain writes a monthly editorial column and blogs regularly for In Play. A Detroit sports newspaper, published a magazine.

Kevin Costner's character in the 2005 film The Upside of Anger was partially based on McLain (and also partially on Kirk Gibson, another Tiger of World Series note).

McLain was arrested without incident on April 11, 2008, after deputies discovered an outstanding warrant against him for failing to appear at a January 16 court hearing.

On September 22, 2011, McLain was arrested in Port Huron, Michigan, at the Canada–US border after police discovered an outstanding warrant against him from St. Charles Parish, Louisiana. McLain had inadvertently taken an exit off the highway 94, leading him across the Bluewater Bridge and into Canada due to construction delays. He was then returned to the United States, where he was legally required to pass through a U.S. Customs and Border Protection inspection booth. The outstanding warrant was then discovered, for which McLain was jailed in Port Huron, Michigan. The warrant was released in less than a week, and McLain was released.

On WFDF's Sunday radio show on Sunday, McLain hosted a Sunday radio show on life and politics from 2017 to 2018. (AM)

In January 2019, McLain and former local sportscasters Eli Zaret and Bob Page launched No Filter Sports, a podcast that was not available on the internet.

McLain's Estate Sales held an estate auction in October 2020. This event was widely covered by outlets like ESPN and the Associated Press.

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