Tigers Great McLain Proud Of Chiefs Past

Four years prior to winning 31 games for the Detroit Tigers in 1968, pitching great Denny McLain was honing his craft with the Syracuse Chiefs.

McLain spent 10 seasons in the big leagues (1963-'72). It was his first seven MLB campaigns , gradually working his way up as the ace of the Tigers' rotation, where McLain would gain baseball superstardom.

1968.

Few major leaguers have ever dominated their position or league as McLain had during the 1968 season. The Chicagoan was magic on the mound. McLain's accomplishments in that season has yet to be duplicated.

As a 24-year-old, in his fourth full season with the Tigers, McLain dominated the 10 team American League. He won 31 games, the first MLB pitcher since Dizzy Dean in 1934 to win 30 games. In 41 games, McLain racked up a 31-6 record, colleted a 1.96 ERA, tallied 23 complete games, and registering 325 innings of work.

By fall, McLain would be announced winner of both the American League Cy Young and MVP awards. Topping off what is remembered in baseball's annals as an epic individual performance, McLain and his Detroit teammates capped off the 1968 season with a World Series championship over the St. Louis Cardinals.
For McLain, before going up to Detroit for good, there were eight games and 59 innings of work with the Chiefs in 1964.

"Everybody is anxious," McLain recalls of wanting to make the Tigers' Opening Day rotation in 1964. "I came within one pitch of making the club. I didn't want to waste my time in the minors."

However, as McLain would come to relaize as he was ticketed for Syracuse at season's start, a special group of players were coming together at MacArthur Stadium on the city's North Side.

"All my teammates were good guys," McLain says of his fellow Chiefs. "I knew we had a ball club, watching the guys making the plays as they did. It was no surprise that we (Chiefs) were coming into our own."

Although the Chiefs finished the season in second place, behind the Jacksonville Suns in the 8 team International League, several of McLain's teammates on the 1968 Detroit club were with him in Syracuse.

Four members of the 1964 Chiefs , Willie Horton, Mickey Stanley, Mack Jones, and Jim Northrup have been inducted into the Chiefs' Wall of Fame. Jackie Moore went on to manage the Oakland A's, and Jack DiLauro won a championship in 1969 with the New York Mets.

"Dressen (Tigers' manager Charlie Dressen) was making a lot of moves at that time (1964). He loved over-hand pitchers. I knew then that I would get my opportunity with Detroit," McLain,74, said during a recent phone interview. "Charlie didn't try and make me do something on the mound that I couldn't."

McLain, who earned a 3-1 record and a 1.53 ERA while with the Chiefs, would be promoted during the 1964 season to Detroit, and end his American League season with a 4-5 record in 19 games.

Being 20-years-old and married to Sharyn is who McLain credits as keeping him "calm" during their stop in Central New York. 

"I wouldn't have been so successful without her," explains McLain of his wife of 50 years.

More than a half century since slipping into a Chiefs uniform, McLain has vivid memories of his time living in Syracuse. "What I liked about it (Syracuse), there were a lot of taverns; one on every corner - just like Chicago. There was one tavern where the guy always kept the place open for us (Chiefs) after the games."
Tagging Syracuse as a "special town", McLain's main goal with the Chiefs was to contribute. McLain's manager in Syracuse, Frank Carswell, had a profound influence on his career.

"Frank was a very special man. He kept the clubhouse loose, and was a great judge of ability," McLain offers. "Frank knew who "couldn't miss."

McLain says of his time in Syracuse, and the big leagues, that he just wanted to please people. As the record book will attest - mission accomplished.