In 1977, he became bankrupt again due to poor business decisions. McLain continued to earn side money playing the organ at clubs, including a club in suburban Detroit where former heavyweight boxing champion Leon Spinks worked as a bartender. McLain met his future wife, Sharon Boudreau (daughter of Lou Boudreau) in high school . "There is never a day off, but it is like I have told her 1,000 times, if I could trade places with you, I would right now. Denny McLain - Daily Dose of Sports [4][5], McLain was born in Markham, Illinois, and attended Mt. Here's What Happened to Baseball's Best Pitcher - Yahoo! News Denny McLain again led the American League in wins in 1969, going 24-9 as he shared the Cy Young Award with Mike Cuellar of the Baltimore Orioles. If you are a fan of Denny McLain, tell us more about Him Advertisement. Denny McLain, major league baseball's last 30-game winner, was sentenced Thursday to 23 years in prison by a federal judge who chided him for not accepting his conviction on racketeering . Denny McLain #31 of the Oakland Athletics talks with a young fan prior to the start of a Major League Baseball game circa 1972. SHARON MCLAIN OBITUARY. Yaz, the defending A.L. McLain's oldest daughter, Kristin, 26, was killed on March 20, 1992, in a drunk driving accident. "Two things can happen," his doctors said. And it happened more than fifty years ago at The Corner in Detroit. Denny McLain - Baseball-Reference.com Part of what makes life fulfilling for McLain now is that he gets to remain involved with the game he fell in love with at an early age growing up in the suburbs of Chicago. Oh, how ashamed Denny claimed to be that he put Lou and his daughter through humiliation and debt. [25][26][27] He was the first pitcher in American League history to win the Most Valuable Player Award and the Cy Young Award in the same season. Denny McLain is a former American professional baseball player, and the last major league pitcher to win 30 or more games during a seasona feat accomplished by only 13 players in the 20th century.Eli Zaret is a longtime sportscaster in Detroit and the author of Blue Collar Blueprint: How the Pistons Constructed Their Championship Formula and The Last of the Great Tigers: Untold Stories from . Denny McLain was once a baseball superstar, but he turned to criminal activities after his career.