Among pitchers since 1920, only Bob Feller has thrown more innings over the course of two consecutive years before his age-26 season than McLain did those years. "After the Tigers had clinched the 1968 American League pennant, McLain added to his penchant for notoriety while pitching his 31st and final regular season victory in a game against the McLain completed a 31–6 record along with a 1.96 earned run average, as the Tigers led from start to finish to win the American League The season became known as the "Year of the Pitcher", with batting averages and run production dropping in both leagues.McLain's success on the playing field led to endorsement opportunities from the McLain was a nonconformist and liked to play by his own rules.McLain created more dissension when he clashed with Tigers' manager McLain was suspended indefinitely by baseball commissioner On October 9, 1970, McLain was traded by the Detroit Tigers with The McLain trade was made over the strenuous objections of Senators manager By this time, McLain had serious arm trouble, inadvertently made worse by numerous In a 10-year major-league career, McLain won 131 games against 91 losses.Since McLain's 31-win season, only two other pitchers have approached the 30-game milestone (McLain continued to earn side money playing the organ at clubs, including a club in suburban Detroit where former heavyweight boxing champion McLain's weight ballooned to 330 pounds (150 kg) during his post-baseball career.Between his stints in prison and rehabilitation in the mid-1980s to the early-1990s, McLain could be found on various talk radio sports shows and occasionally on panel-format sports shows on network television in the Detroit area; he also modeled McLain's oldest daughter, Kristin, 26, was killed on March 20, 1992, in a drunk driving accident.On April 11, 2008, McLain was arrested without incident after deputies discovered an outstanding warrant against him for failing to appear for a January 16 court hearing.From 2017 to 2018, McLain hosted a Sunday radio show about life and politics on In January 2019 McLain and former local sportscasters Eli Zaret and Bob Page launched a podcast called "No Filter Sports."
His biography for the Society for American Baseball research notes how Sports Illustrated put him on the cover of a February 1970 issue, alleging he’d invested in a mob-related bookmaking operation three years before.
He could be the last one for awhile.Asked whether there will be another 30-game winner, McLain said, “No, it’s impossible.
It was a mistake.”But he said that once allegations started swirling about him, many of them not true, his concentration went. “You just were told to go to Ford Hospital, be there at 10 o’clock in the morning. Denny McLain of the Detroit Tigers chats with Hall of Fame members (from left) Charlie Gehringer, Zack Wheat and Lefty Grove at the Hall of Fame Game at Doubleday Field on July 22, 1968.
He credits his wife, Sharyn, who he first married 53 years ago, to helping turn his life around.“Somehow or other, she thinks she can save the old boy and she did,” McLain said.Today, McLain’s life consists of caring for Sharyn, who has Parkinson’s disease, making speaking appearances and attending to his business interests.
Other pitchers knew it well, too.Larry Dierker, who won 20 games for Houston in 1969, estimated he had 50-60 cortisone shots, saying via email, “The most interesting thing is that some guys would sneak into the training room and give each other shots.
Shieber also said the exhibit includes McLain's glove from Sept. 14, 1968, when he won his 30th game of the season.“People should be recognized for some of these great seasons, for the consistency, for doing some of the great things that the game has ever seen before,” McLain said.McLain, who topped out in the Baseball Writers' Association of America voting for Cooperstown at 0.7 percent in 1979, has limited options for being inducted.
> Denny McLain Statistics and History.
He can next be considered in fall 2020 by the Golden Days Era Committee, which formed last year, and is scheduled to meet once every five years to consider people who made their greatest contribution to baseball between 1950 and 1969.McLain is one of four 30-game winners from the 20th century not in Cooperstown, counting Smoky Joe Wood, Jack Coombs and Jim Bagby. They didn't want the team to know they were hurt because it might affect their salary.”Jim Kaat thought Dierker’s and McLain’s numbers a little high, estimating he had no more than 25 cortisone shots over his 25-year career. That was 1969.”McLain had some incentive to stay quiet and pitch through pain, with his injury late in 1967 costing Detroit the pennant, he said. Denny McLain is one of the great what-ifs in baseball history. ... Raise the mound.
Ask him what happened after he got hurt, after he had the accident, after his marriage went bad. As the ‘68 season wore on, Sain kept asking McLain how his arm felt. They don’t pitch enough innings.
Apparently, it got pretty close with Minnesota.”He added, “That was probably the best trade they never made.”McLain started 1968 hot and never looked back, going 21-3 by the end of July. McLain made controversial statements in early May by criticizing Detroit fans for being "the biggest front-running fans in the world. But no one wants to give that any consideration.”Asked whether the lowered mound contributed to his injuries, McLain said it did, noting “all that does is put much more pressure on your shoulder that’s already damaged.”The next year, serious problems arose for McLain off the field. In the midst of it, Detroit unloaded McLain to the Washington Senators.Asked whether he’s had a chance to make sense of what his suspension was, McLain said, “I don’t know what it was. Tom Shieber, senior curator for the Hall of Fame, said McLain is listed in an exhibit called "One for the Books," which names players who've won 30 games since 1893. The rotator cuff was gone.”McLain struggled in life in the early ‘90s as well, with multiple legal problems and his weight ballooning to nearly 300 pounds.
People began to ask McLain whether he would win 30 games.
“There’s one way. It can happen for any athlete.“I’ll give you the perfect example,” McLain said.
He estimates he had more than 140 in his career.“There wasn’t much consideration for, ‘Are we doing any damage to the guy by giving him all this cortisone?’” McLain said. That’s how bad it hurts sometimes.”McLain nearly doubled his salary from $33,000 to $65,000 for 1969 and was scheduled to start the All-Star Game (though he arrived late because of a dentist appointment, a New York Times article noted. All you gotta do is raise the mound back to where it belongs. With even a handful more good seasons, he’d have been in Cooperstown 15 or 20 years ago.That doesn’t mean the 73-year-old wouldn’t like more recognition from Cooperstown.“I think we all believe we’re Hall of Famers, I really do,” McLain told Sporting News in a phone interview from his Michigan home.