Denny McClain – The Rise and Fall

By Guest
Updated: April 22, 2019

By Tony Samboras

History is filled with tragic stories of great athletes who experienced particular moments of greatness only to see their greatness disintegrate into the abyss. Chicago Bears running back Gale Sayers scored and NFL record 22 touchdowns as a rookie in 1965. Experts predicted he would crush every rushing record in the NFL. By 1971, he was forced into retirement after severe injuries to both knees.

In 1998, about the time the sports world was being introduced to sports betting online, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa led baseball fans through a glorious summer while in hot pursuit of Roger Maris’ MLB Home Run record of 61. McGwire finished the season with 70 homeruns while Sosa also beat Maris’s record with a total of 66 dingers. Due to suspicion of steroid use, neither player is likely to ever see the Hall of Fame. Pete Rose is perhaps the greatest hitter in MLB history, yet will likely be kept from the hall because he admittedly bet on baseball.

Unfortunately, history is riddled with similar stories. This is the story of former famed and defamed Detroit Tigers Pitcher Dennis “Denny” McLain. McLain was born and raised in Markham, Illinois where he played baseball as a shortstop and pitcher for Mt. Carmel High School in Chicago. By the end of his senior year, he clearly had the talent to make it to the big leagues and was drafted by the Chicago White Sox as an amateur free agent. As a sign of things to come, McLain threw a 16-strikeout no-hitter in his very first minor league appearance.

Flashing forward to the 1968 season, McLain was with the Detroit Tigers and had already established himself as one of the top pitchers in MLB. In one magical season, he accomplished what no other pitcher had accomplished since 1920. He became Major League Baseball’s 11^th and last pitcher to win 30 games in a season. He ended the season 31-6 with 280 strikeouts and an outstanding ERA of 1.96. More importantly, the Tigers went on to win the American League Pennant and beat Bob Gibson’s St Louis Cardinals in the World Series. In an amazing side-note: McLain claimed the AL Cy Young and MVP awards while Gibson claimed the NL’s Cy Young and MVP awards. It became the only time in MLB history that pitchers who claimed both honors would face each other on the mound.

In spite of his success on the mound, McLain was a notorious individual away from the ballpark. Often verbally critical and abusive towards teammates and fans, there was clearly a dark side to the man’s personality. By the early 1970s, McLain’s legal problems began. In 1970, he was suspended for three months by Commissioner Bowie Kuhn for his involvement in a bookmaking ring. He would later go on to several prisons stints related to crimes like drug trafficking (cocaine), embezzlement, and racketeering. While several of the charges were eventually reversed, the damage to his reputation had already been done. To date, he remains the only 30-game winner (season) and two-time Cy Young award winner not in the Hall of Fame.