September 14, 1968: Denny McLain Wins His 30th Game of the Season

September 14, 1968: Denny McLain performs a pitching feat not seen in 34 years -- and he isn't even on the mound when it's completed, despite having pitched a complete game.

The Detroit Tigers were playing the Oakland Athletics at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. The Tigers went into the game leading the American League over the Baltimore Orioles, by 9 1/2 games with 14 games to play. They were almost certain to with the Pennant.

It was being discussed that New York Yankees superstar Mickey Mantle might be retiring after the season, but he hadn't made it official yet. (He did so at the start of the next season's Spring Training.) And the National League race was also pretty much over: The St. Louis Cardinals led the San Francisco Giants by 11 1/2 games with 13 to play.

So, pretty much the only suspense left in the season, other than the World Series that would be played between the Tigers and the Cardinals, was whether McLain would become the 1st pitcher in the major leagues since Dizzy Dean of the 1934 Cardinals to win 30 games in a season.

It had been "The Year of the Pitcher." From the current Cardinals, Bob Gibson would finish with a record of 22-9 and an ERA of 1.12, the lowest in the major leagues since the start of the Lively Ball Era in 1920. Don Drysdale of the Los Angeles Dodgers had pitched a record 58 2/3rds consecutive scoreless innings, including 6 straight shutouts. Juan Marichal of the San Francisco Giants led the NL with 26 wins against 5 losses. And the American League as a whole batted just .237. Carl Yastrzemski led it in batting average at just .301.

McLain came into the game with a record of 29-4. He did everything he could, going the full 9 innings. He allowed 4 runs on 6 hits and 1 walk, striking out 10. But he gave up 2 home runs to A's rookie Reggie Jackson. Norm Cash had hit a home run for the Tigers, but they went into the bottom of the 9th, trailing 4-3.

Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Al Kaline, the most popular player in Tiger history, led off the inning by drawing a walk off Diego Seguí. Dick McAuliffe popped up, but Mickey Stanley singled Kaline over to 3rd base. Jim Northrup grounded to 1st base, and Danny Cater dropped the ball, allowing Kaline to score. And Willie Horton singled Stanley home.

Tigers 5, Athletics 4. WP: McLain (30-4). He would finish 31-6 on the season. No pitcher has won 30 games in a season -- or even 28 -- since.

Gibson would beat McLain in Games 1 and 4 of the World Series. But Mickey Lolich would win Games 2 and 5. McLain won Game 6. Lolich would outpitch Gibson in Game 7, and the Tigers won the Series.

*

September 14, 1968 was a Saturday. These other Major League Baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Washington Senators, 4-1 at District of Columbia Stadium in Washington. (It was renamed Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium the following June.) Al Downing went the distance for the win. Roy White hit a home run. Mickey Mantle did not play.

* The New York Mets lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-0 at Shea Stadium. Bob Veale pitched an 8-hit shoutout. Roberto Clemente hit 2 home runs.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Boston Red Sox, 7-3 at Fenway Park in Boston. Carl Yastrzemski and Reggie Smith hit home runs for Boston, but it wasn't enough. Harmon Killebrew appeared as a pinch-hitter, and drew a walk.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-1 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. Ernie Banks went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Cleveland Indians, 5-3 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Frank Robinson hit a home run. Brooks Robinson went 0-for-3, but had an RBI on a sacrifice fly.

* The California Angels beat the Chicago White Sox, 5-4 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. An error in the top of the 10th inning gave the Angels the win.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Houston Astros, 8-0 at the Astrodome in Houston. Nelson Briles pitched an 8-hit shutout. Lou Brock went 2-for-4 with a walk, 2 stolen bases and an RBI.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves, 3-0 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Don Sutton pitched a 6-hit shutout. Hank Aaron went 1-for-3 with a walk.

* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds, 9-1 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Willie Mays hit 2 home runs, and rookie Bobby Bonds hit one. Pete Rose went 1-for-4, Rookie of the Year Johnny Bench did the same, and Tony Pérez hit a home run.

This was also the opening weekend of the college football season. But only 1 Top 10 team played that day, and it didn't work out so well for them: Number 9 Tennessee were held to a tie by Georgia, 17-17, at home, at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville.

And in English soccer, Arsenal beat Staffordshire team Stoke City, 1-0 at the Arsenal Stadium, a.k.a. Highbury, in North London. In his memoir Fever Pitch, Nick Hornby wrote of this being the 1st game he ever went to, at age 11, taken by his father.

The only goal of the game was scored by Terry Neill, on a rebound of his own penalty, deflected by not stopped by Gordon Banks. Neill would later manage Arsenal to win the 1979 FA Cup. Banks had been the goalkeeper on the England team that won the 1966 World Cup. At the time, he was playing his "club football" for another Midlands team, Leicester City.

Also on that Stoke team, and the '66 England team, was George Eastham, who had previously starred for Arsenal. In the film version of Fever Pitch, Paul Ashworth, the character based on Hornby and played by Colin Firth, admitted that Eastham was "before my time," but the real Hornby saw Eastham play in this game.