This Denny McLain card was lying around in my collection for a long time. I believe I bought it by mistake way back when I was working on my 1970 set, but already had it. Anyway, it was in my card show boxes, and finally, I found it while I was prepping for this year's National. I knew he would be there signing for a fee, so I decided that this card should make its way into my album, after surviving all of those past card shows. So, here is it, about to be placed into one of the pages. He signed for a fee of $35, I believe. I had set money aside for that purpose, and I always enjoy talking with him. He is a bit unfiltered, and when discussing pitching with my 12-year old son he says "just throw the f*cking ball". I thought that was pretty cool.
McLain (b. 1944) played in the majors from 1963 to 1972 for the Tigers, Senators, A's and Braves. He had a career record of 131-91 with 1,282 strike outs and a 3.39 ERA. He was the Cy Young and MVP Award winner in 1968 when he went 31-6 with a 1.96 ERA. He was the last 30-game winner in the majors. He was also the AL Cy Young Award winner in 1969 when he had 24 wins. He was also a three-time All Star (1966, 1968 and 1969) and won the World Series with the Tigers in 1968.
He appeared on three Hall of Fame ballots (1978, 1979 and 1985), but only received at most, 0.7% of the vote.
